Texas Hold 'Em poker is by far the best game
for a beginner to learn. Instead of other poker games like
Omaha High or 7 card stud which entail a great many more possibilities
for calculating odds and perhaps even trying to count cards,
Hold'Em can be learned in a few minutes by anyone, and you
can be playing fairly well with a few hours practice. In order
to learn the game, however, you must play and you must play
fairly often.
One poker room, PartyPoker, offers a wide variety
of play money tables for beginners to practice their skills
until they're ready to move up to the fun at real money tables.
We recommend this card room to new players, as this site is
one of the fastest growing new cardrooms (and full of other
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A Texas Hold em poker game goes as follows:
1. The betting structure can vary. Sometimes
antes are used, but most games start with two players to the
left of the dealer placing out a predetermined amount of money
so there is an initial amount to get things started. This
is called posting the blinds. Click here for more info on
blinds and antes.
2. The dealer shuffles up a complete deck of
52 playing cards.
3. Each player is dealt two cards face down.
These are called your hole or pocket cards.
4. Then there is a round of betting starting
with the guy to the left of the two who posted the blinds.
This round is usually referred to by the term pre-flop.
5. The amount a player can bet depends on what
kind of game it is. (Click here for more information about
betting structures)
6. Much like most games of poker, players can
check, raise, or fold.
7. After the betting round ends, the dealer
discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card.
This is done to prevent cheating.
8. The dealer then flips the next three cards
face up on the table. These cards are called the flop. These
are communal cards that anyone can use in combination with
their two pocket cards to form a poker hand.
9. There is another round of betting starting
with the player to the left of the dealer.
10. After the betting concludes, the dealer
burns another card and flips one more onto the table. This
is called the turn card. Players can use this sixth card now
to form a five card poker hand.
11. The player to the left of the dealer begins
another round of betting. In many types of games, this is
where the bet size doubles.
12. Finally, the dealer burns a card and places
a final card face up on the table. This is called the river.
Players can now use any of the five cards on the table or
the two cards in their pocket to form a five card poker hand.
13. There is one final round of betting starting
with the player to the left of the dealer.
14. After that, all of the players remaining
in the game begin to reveal their hands. This begins with
the player to the left of the last player to call. It's called
the showdown. Players use a combination of their pocket cards
and the community cards to form a poker hand. For more about
that click here.
15. The player who shows the best hand wins!
There are cases where players with equal hands share the winnings.
Click here for more info on who wins and about split pots.
Once you understand this basic structure
of the game, you can play holdem and even some of the many
holdem variants out there. Holdem is an easy game to learn,
just difficult to master.
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