Rules for playing Texas Hold’em Poker

Texas Hold’em has quickly become one of the favorite forms of Poker the world over. At first glance Texas Hold’em does not look like a Poker game. However upon closer examination it is very similar to traditional Poker. Texas Hold’em uses standard Poker hands to determine the best hand. Before we get too deep into the rules of Hold’em, let’s look at the different terminology used in Hold’em Poker.

The Flop: After each player is dealt their two hole cards and the initial round of betting occurs, the first 3 community cards are dealt face up on the board. These cards can be used by any player to form their hand.

Turn: After the round of betting ends after the Flop a fourth card is dealt face up on the board.

River: This is the last card that is dealt face up on the board following the betting round for the turn.

Reveal: This happens after the last round of betting ends following the River. If two or more players remain at this point they must reveal their hand to determine the winner. If only one player remains then there is no reveal.

Now let us begin to take a look at the rules of Texas Hold‘em.

Like other Poker games, Hold’em uses a standard 52 card deck. Like other games the dealing position moves around the table. In a casino the dealer is a member of the casino staff but in a home game you may allow everyone to deal or select a single person to deal for the night. Regardless of the choice a dealer’s button will move around the table in a clockwise fashion to signify the Dealer’s position for that hand. There are 2 other buttons that move around the table with the Dealer button. These buttons are located directly to the Dealer button’s right. These 2 other buttons are the Small Blind button and the Big Blind button. These buttons signal who must pay the Big and the Small Blinds for that hand.

Following the posting of the blinds, each player is dealt 2 cards face down. After reviewing the cards, each player has the opportunity to check, call, raise, re-raise or fold. In order to continue to play the hand, everyone must call and match the highest bet. This completes the first round of betting. After the first round of betting has ended, the dealer prepares to deal the next round. The top card is placed in the discard pile, to ensure no one has an advantage, and then they deal 3 cards face up. These three cards are referred to as the Flop. These cards are considered community cards and can be used by any player to make up their hand. After the flop has been dealt a new round of betting begins.

Betting continues until everyone calls. The dealer once again deals one card in the discard pile and then places 1 card face up, again for players to use. This is called the Turn. Play continues with another round of betting. After the round of betting has finished the dealer again discards the top card on the deck and then deals the next card face up on the board. This deal is referred to as the River. After the River card is dealt the final round of betting begins. At the end of this round of betting the remaining players reveal what they have in their hand and the winner takes the pot. In order to win, a player uses the 2 cards in their hand as well as any 3 of the 5 cards on the table to make the best hand possible. The player with the highest hand value wins.

For a complete list of Texas Hold’em and other Poker terms feel free to read our Poker glossary.