Texas Holdem quick view
Texas HoldemTexas Holdem (hold'em) is the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States. And it is getting well known around the world. If you're just starting out, this is the game to learn.
In contrast to poker games like stud or draw where each player holds a separate individual hand, texas holdem is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and their own two hole cards to make a poker hand.
Each player only starts with two cards and the remaining cards are shared, so it presents an opportune game for strategic analysis (including mathematical analysis).
Texas Holdem's simplicity and popularity has inspired a wide variety of strategy books which provide recommendations for proper play.
Many of these books recommend a strategy from the professional texas holdem player(Kim Birch, Phillip D., Ray Seakan..etc) that involves playing relatively few hands but betting and raising often with the hands one plays.
Playing in Texas Holdem goes through 4 sequential rounds of betting:
At very first stage, dealer deals each player his/her own two cards face-down (pocket cards):
First betting round
The dealer turns over three community-board cards (the flop) face-up
Second betting round
The dealer turns over 1 more community-board card (the turn)
Third betting round
The dealer turns over 1 final community-board card (the river)
Final betting round
Showdown
At the showdown players may use either:
• Both pocket cards & three board cards
• One pocket card & four board cards
• All five board cards (playing the board)
These are the Texas Holdem hands in ranking:
1)Royal Flush – An Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit. A royal flush is
the highest-ranking natural hand. Sometimes referred to as an Ace-high straightflush.
2)Straight Flush – A straight flush is the second-best natural hand. A straight flush is
a straight (5 cards in order, such as 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8) that are all of the same suit.
As in a regular straight, you can have an ace either high (A – K – Q – J – T) or low
(A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5). You can not use the Ace in a wraparound, like K – A – 2 – 3 – 4;
this is not a straight.
3)Four of a Kind – Four cards of the same rank like four Aces or four Queens. If there
are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the higher-rank four of a kind
wins.
4)Full House – Three of a kind combined with a pair (Ex: 5, 5, 5, J, J). Ties on a full
house are broken by the three of a kind, since it is impossible to have two equal sets
of three of a kind in a single deck.
5)Flush – Any five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence. If two people both
have a flush in the same suit, the person with the highest card is the winner.
6)Straight – Five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit. Note: there is no wrap
around (it doesn’t work if you have K, A, 2, 3, 4). The straight that has the highest
card wins.
7)Three of a Kind – Three cards of any rank with the remaining cards not being a
pair. Once again the highest ranking three of a kind would win. Q – Q – Q – 4 – 6
would beat J – J – J – 5 – 9.
8)Two Pair – Two pairs (Ex: 4, 4, J, J). The pair with the higher value is used to
determine the winner of a tie.
9)Pair – One pair (Ex: Q, Q).
10)High Card – If the hand has no other combination, its worth is determined by the
high card. If two players have the same high card, the tie is broken by the second
highest card.
In my next post, I will show you a poker situation and how to solve it, most important is, how you can make money by playing Texas Holdem poker online.
Texas Holdem
Labels: Texas Holdem
posted by Koogle @ 9:57 AM
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