Texas Hold 'Em resembles Seven Card Stud only in that
a total of seven cards are dealt out in the end, and that five of the
seven cards are used by players to make the best possible hand they can
make. But this is where the similarity ends.
In Texas Hold 'Em, generally known simply as 'Hold Em', all players
at the table get two cards face down, which only they can see, but the
remaining five cards are dealt out face up, in front of the dealer, and
are common cards to all the players in the game. This means that if these
five common cards have among them, say, two Kings, these two Kings are
common to everyone at the who is still in the game at that point. All
players can use these Kings to combine with the two cards they have,
plus any of the remaining cards among the common cards.
Texas Hold 'Em tables are usually bigger than Seven Card Stud tables,
and generally accommodate from 7 to 12 players. In some casinos games
accommodating up to 14 players are also offered. As in all poker games,
dealing begins after the dealer shuffles the cards. The game uses the
standard 52 card deck, without Jokers and no wild cards. There are many
Texas Holdem poker
strategies which may be employed during the game (and I've written
a book on the subject), but for now let's just cover the basics.
Following the shuffle, the dealer will burn from three to five cards,
depending on House rules. He then begins to deal clockwise. Each player
at the Hold-Em table is given a total of two down cards, dealt one-by-one
to each player in turn, but only after two of the players have made their
mandatory ante bets. After these two down cards are dealt to each player
the first round of betting takes place. It is only at the conclusion
of this first round of betting, that the dealer burns a single card and
three more cards are
dealt, face up. These three cards are called 'the flop' and are common
cards to all the players still in the game. At the conclusion of all
betting in this round, the dealer burns another card and then deals one
additional card face up and adds this to the flop. Another round of betting
takes place, the process is repeated, and the final seventh card is then
dealt, also face up, and added to the other four. This completes the
total of five common cards. This also begins the final round of betting,
and no more cards will be dealt.
At the beginning of the game, which player gets the first card out
depends on the position of the 'dealer's puck'. This dealer's puck is
a small, round and white plastic object similar to that used in Craps,
except in Hold-Em it has two white sides and each side has the word 'dealer' written
on it. This puck moves from player to player, clockwise, after each deal.
This is done so that no single player will always get the first card
out, and to prevent any one player from always having to be the first
one to make a bet. This is also done to make sure that all players at
the table will, eventually, have to put up their mandatory ante bets.
Whoever holds the puck will get the last card dealt at each turn of
the deal. The player sitting to the left of the player with the dealer's
puck gets the first card, player to his left the next card, and so on.
The player to the left of the player holding the puck also has to make
an ante bet in an amount equal to the table minimum, and the player next
to him, on his left, has to make a second ante bet equal to 1/3 of that,
both mandatory bets in Hold Em. Technically, these first bets are really
blind bets, that is, bets on your own cards even before you've see them,
rather than ante bets, but they are nonetheless still called an ante.
These ante amounts vary depending on the table limits. Since the puck
moves from player to player around the table after each hand s completed,
eventually all players will have to make such blind bets. This double-ante
requirement is there for three basic reasons: First, because players
making such bets are in the favored spot, getting the first and second
card out respectively; second, because the player with the higher ante
bet is now able to see how all the other players play and bet before
having to make any further
decisions; and third, to place some action on the table. If there is
no action, and all players fold except one player, that player still
gets a small win. In addition, the player who had to make the bigger
ante bet also gets a chance to raise the bets at the end of the first
round of betting, This opportunity to so raise the bets is called an 'option'.
If you do not make the ante bet when it is your turn, or call yourself
out of that hand, or if you were not present at the table when it was
your turn to put up the ante, you get no cards and now have to wait until
the puck comes back around to you in order to be allowed to play again.
You can, however, buy yourself back in the game at any time after you
missed your blind bet turn, by betting both ante bets out of turn. The
player making the smaller ante bet will be the first player asked to
bet or fold after both initial cards
are dealt to all players, since the player making the higher ante bet
is considered to already have made the minimum required bet. The first
round of betting now takes place among the remaining players. When all
players have checked, bet, raised and/or called and/or folded, the flop
takes place, and thereafter the remaining rounds of betting, as indicated
earlier.
At the final round, when all the remaining active players have called
all the bets, the showdown takes place. These players turn over their
two hole cards, that is, the two down cards that make up their individual
hands, and the dealer will make the best comparison between each player's
set of two hole cards and the five common cards. Whichever player has
the best five-card Poker hand, using his two hole cards and any of the
five common cards, is declared the winner. He gets the pot. |
