Texas Hold'em Basic Play.

Texas Hold'em is the most popular variety of poker, as well as the easiest to learn. Hold'em poker is played with a standard 52 card deck. What makes Hold'em stand out from many other card games is the use of five community cards – cards dealt face up on the table that all players share. Each player also receives two face-down cards each – hole or pocket cards. These two cards make up your starting hand. Players can make their five-card hand from both, one or none of their hole cards in combination with the community cards.

The game is divided into four rounds of betting, and the betting moves clockwise around the table. Betting starts from the position next to the dealer button, which moves one place to the left after each hand.

Betting

In a round of betting each player can Check (betting nothing) which can only be done if no-one before them as made a bet, Call (match any bet made before them) Raise (increase the amount of any bet made before them), or Fold surrender his cards and stake in the game for this hand.

During a round of betting a player can usually only make one of these 4 actions unless a player acting after him any player to their left and right of the dealer has raised. In this case if their has been a player who has raised and their are players still in the hand which have made a lesser bet they must either fold, call or Re-raise. This continues until everyone in the hand is either bet the same amount or there is one or more players all-in (bet all their chips) with any other players in the hand matching that bet.

Blinds

Before a game starts, the two players to the left of the dealer post 'blind' bets, so-called because they are made before the players have seen any cards. The blinds ensure that there is some money in the pot to play for at the very start of the game. The player to the left of the dealer posts the 'small blind', and the player to his left posts the 'big blind'.

Pre-Flop

Now the game starts to heat up! Each player receives two cards that only they can see, called 'hole' cards. After this, the first round of betting is started by the first player to the left of the big blind and then to the next player to their left. When the betting returns to the player who made the big blind (the first full bet), that player can 'check' to stay in the game without adding anything to the pot (since they have already made the forced big blind bet) or make a raise. However, if an opponent has raised, the big blind has three options: he must fold, call, or re-raise.

The Flop

Three 'community' cards, which all players can use to make their five-card hand, are dealt face up on the table. A second round of betting follows however this time the betting starts with the first player to the left of the dealer still in the hand.

The Turn

A fourth community card is dealt face up on the table. The third round of betting follows with betting starts with the first player to the left of the dealer still in the hand.

The River

The fifth and final community card is dealt, followed by the final round of betting again with the betting starts with the first player to the left of the dealer still in the hand.

The Showdown

If there is more than one player left in the game, there is a showdown in which the players reveal their cards and the highest hand wins (see Rank of Hands). If two players share an identical hand, the pot is split.

The Button

The order of play in a round of poker is decided by the button. This is a visible marker that rotates clockwise between players before the start of each new hand. The player seated left of the button always acts first in any given betting round. The player in front of the button thus acts last. This is a huge advantage since that player can await the actions of the other players before deciding on his own actions. In this case Player A acts first. Player B is second, and Player C, on the button, acts last.