Texas Hold'em poker rules
Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular types of poker in the world and it’s played with a standard 52-card deck that gets shuffled before each hand.
First, each player gets dealt two hole cards. That is followed by three rounds of community cards that are dealt face up and bets are placed after every round. The best five card hand, formed from the selection of the two hole and the five community cards, wins!
Every hand begins with a small blind, a big blind, and a round of betting. The exact rules for the betting change slightly in Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit games.
The first three community cards are called the Flop, and they are dealt after the first round of betting. Another round of betting follows, and then the Turn – the fourth community card - is dealt. After the third round of betting, the last community card, called the River is dealt and it is followed by the final round of betting. Whoever has the best hand by now is the winner!
The small and the big blinds are forced bets, and the clockwise-rotating button decides who has to place them. Every player then has to either call the big blind, raise, or fold.
In No Limit Hold‘em, a bet must not be smaller than the required minimum. However, the only upper limit is the amount of chips that the player has in front of them. A €5/€10 No Limit will have the blinds at €5 and €10.
In Tournament Hold‘em, there are certain time frames by which the increments to the blinds are made. Normally, Texas Hold‘em does not have ante bets, but in tournaments the antes will be added in the later rounds and their size will be decided by the appropriate betting limits.
