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Texas Holdem
The most popular form of poker these days is Texas Holdem. It’s easy to learn Texas Hold’em and fun to play. You can play it with as many as ten people or as few as two. Here are the basic ideas of Texas Holdem Poker.
Although some have referred to Texas Holdem as a variant of Seven Card Stud Poker, it is more properly thought of as a community card game, meaning some of the cards are shared by multiple players.
The Texas Holdem rules are very simple. Unlike some other poker games, there are generally no antes in Texas Holdem Poker. The player to the left of the dealer, known as the small blind, puts in a forced bet. The player to his left is forced to put in a bet called the big blind, usually twice the amount of the small blind. Everyone is dealt two cards. Each player in turn must call the big blind, raise, or fold. If any player raises, each successive player must now call that raise or fold. This action goes clockwise around the table all the way to the dealer, also called “the button” for the white disk that goes in front of this player signaling that he is the dealer in games that are dealt professionally. The small and big blinds have the option to raise their forced bets.
The next round is referred to as “the flop.” The flop is three cards which are turned up in the middle of the table for all players to use. Once again, starting from the left of the dealer, each player may check, bet, raise, or fold. After this round, another card, called “the turn” or “fourth street” is turned over. Another betting round, then a fifth card, “the river” or “fifth street” goes in the middle. After a final betting round, players make their best five card poker hand using the two in their hand plus the five in the middle.
That’s all there is to it! You now know how to play Texas Holdem. Good luck!
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