Texas Hold 'Em

Texas Hold ‘Em is arguably the most popular poker game today. It got its start in the early 1900s in a town called Robstown, Texas. It was introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 by a group of Texas players. The game surpassed 7 card stud in popularity, the previous most popular poker game.

The opening starts with the person who is left of the dealer posting a small blind, which is half the minimum bet. The next player then posts the big blind, which is the minimum bet. The each player is dealt two cards face down. The betting starts with the person who sits to the left of the big blind poster calling (matching the big blind), raising (putting in double the big blind or more), or folding (getting rid of) his or her cards. Subsequent players then can call, fold or raise.

When the first round of betting is done, the dealer then deals the flop, which is three cards face up on the table. These cards are known as the community cards that the players can use to match with the two cards in their own hand. Another round of betting takes place, starting with the active player to the left of the dealer passing over those who have folded.

At the end of this second round of betting, the dealer turns up a fourth card called the turn. Again, the active player to the left of the dealer begins the betting.

The fifth card is called the river. The final round of betting takes place when the river card is turned up. There are two ways to win a hand in Texas Hold ‘Em. The first is to have the highest poker hand using the five community cards and the two cards in their hand. The other way to win is to be the only active player in the hand at the end of betting. In this scenario, all other players have folded. There are rare occasions when a tie takes place. In that case, the pot is divided between the two players. Otherwise, the winner takes the pot.

Texas Hold 'Em is a great game to play with friends. There are also websites where you can play for real with other players either for real or for points.