Texas Hold'Em | Online Poker Beginner

Introduction to Texas Holdem

Texas holdem is the most popular online poker game today. The game, which is also known simply as ‘hold’em’, has become more and more popular since the very first real money online poker room (Planet Poker). The real boom happened around 2003 when Holdem began to be televised. Followed by Chris Moneymaker an unknown amateur qualifying from a $39 satellite on PokerStars, and taking The World Series of Poker Main Event taking home a massive 2.5 million dollars. Players began to flood to the internet and it gave people instant access to play poker. For many it became another form of entertainment and for some even a career that they could take part in from anywhere in the world, including their own bedroom. Before then, people who wanted to play poker had to go to a casino, which was often inconvenient and sometimes frowned upon, but when online players began to win a great amount of money in live tournaments, people soon started to realise that with the growth of the Internet, came the growth of Poker.

We recommend that if you are new to poker then you start by learning the rules of Texas Hold’em before learning any other forms of poker. It is the best way to get a grounding to the game and a lot of the principles you learn from Texas Hold em can be transferred across to the many other variants of poker. There are also different forms of holdem which are explained below. The strategy behind the different forms of hold’em are very different to one and other. Although the dynamics of the game are the same, the strategies significantly change.

Types of Hold’em

Many people are drawn to No Limit Hold’em because the maximum bet is not capped and can be raised by the number of chips you have. Players can raise and bet any amount, at any time they wish. The raise amount must be equal or higher than the previous bet in the same round.

The maximum bet that a Pot Limit Texas Hold ‘em player can wager is the size of the current pot (including the amount that is needed to call). This creates an increasing betting limit as each new betting round is introduced, so the pot gets larger and larger as the hand progresses.

When playing Fixed Limit Poker the main difference is that you can only bet one amount at any one time, and can only reraise a set number of times. This limits the number of decisions available to you, and therefore there is a more definitive answer of whether a particular play is right or wrong.

The Basics of Hold’em Poker

The Button

A round disc known as the dealer button is used to indicate the dealer in each hand. It moves clockwise around the table after each hand. This determines everyone’s position on the table and who posts the Blinds. Although the button does represent the dealer when playing online a dealer will deal cards to the table in accordance to the button.

Blinds

The blinds in poker are two obligatory bets made by the two first players to the left of the button (dealer). The two players next to the dealer put a set amount of money into the pot before any cards are dealt. The player immediately to the left of the button is known as the small blind and posts half of the minimum bet, the player to the left of the small blind is the big blind and places the full minimum bet. The blind ensures that there’s something to play for on every hand.

The 5 Stages to Playing Texas Holdem

The dealer will distribute two cards face down to each player starting with the player sat next to the button. The player to act first is the player that is sat to the left of the big blind. This player is commonly known as being under the gun. Players will make their decision as to what they want to do, Players can call (match the big blind), fold (throw away cards) or raise. This will work clockwise round the table until each player has made their decision. This stage of the game is known as pre-flop and what you should do is down to the two cards.

The Flop is the name for the first three cards dealt on the board, this is the second round of betting. The dealer normally burns the top card of the deck just to ensure no one see’s the top card and typically turns all three cards over as a group, after been placed faced down on the table. The flop is a very important moment in any hand of poker. The player knows 71 percent of his or her hand at the flop, and the most important decisions in the hand will take place based on this.

Another card is burned by the dealer and one more card is shown face up onto the table. This, the fourth community card, is known as the turn. Another round of betting is done and

Another card is burned by the dealer followed by the final single community card called the river or fifth street. Followed by a fourth round of betting and if any players are still in you move on to the showdown.

After the final betting round, all players who remain in the game reveal their hands. The player who made the first bet or the player who made the last raise must show their hand first. The player to make the best five card poker hand takes the pot.The best Holdem hands will be made using your hole cards and the five cards shown in the middle, you are able to use any of the 7 cards (two hole cards known only to you and the five dealt cards in the middle). If your not sure what the best poker hands are? You can visit the onlinepokerbeginner.com hand rankings page.