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The Basics of Texas Hold'em
Texas Hold'em is the best known and most popular online poker game in the in the world. You can play texas hold em in two different variations; cash games and texas holdem tournaments.
The Game
Each active player is dealt two face-down cards which belong only to that player.
Five community cards are dealt face-up on the table.
Players can use all five community cards in combination with their own to cards to make
the best five-card poker hand.
 Hold'em Poker uses what is called a dealer-button to indicate the "dealer" ofeach hand. The player who holds the button is considered as the "dealer" for this particular hand. Which means that the first player to his left will post the "small blind", typically equal to half the lower stake.
The next player will post the "big blind", equal to the lower stake limit.
Betting action proceeds clockwise.
If the new player arrives at the table at which the game is already going on, he or she will get an option of posting the big blind and joining the game immediately, or waiting for their turn to post big blind. When the blinds are posted, each player receives two hole cards and the betting round begins.
First player to act is the player to the left of the one who placed the big blind. After the first betting round, three face-up cards are dealt on the table (the "flop"). The flop cards are common to all players participating in the hand. Second betting round starts with the active player left to the button.
First and second betting round is set at the lower limit of the stakes structure.
For example, if the limit is $1-$2 the value of each bet is $1.
After the betting action is complete, the fourth community card is dealt out - this is known as the Turn.
Betting begins with the active player immediately clockwise to the button. On this round, betting doubles from the small bet to the big bet. In $1-$2 games, betting on the turn is done in $2 increments.
When the betting action is complete, the fifth community card is dealt out - this is known as the River.
The River is the final community card in Hold'em games.
The fourth betting round starts again with the player left to the button
and bets are limited to the upper limit of the stake structure. When the final betting round is complete and there is more than one player remaining, the player who bet or raised last, shows his or her cards. If there was no betting action in the final round, the player left to the button shows the cards first. The player who shows the best five-card hand wins the pot. If two or more players hold identical hands, the pot will be equally divided between them.
After the cards are shown and the pot is awarded, the button moves clockwise to the next player and a new game begins.
Texas Hold'em use a standard 52 card deck and the cards are ranked as follows:
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.
(Aces count as both high and low).
There is no strength in the suits of the cards, they are equal,
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades.
The aim is to create the best five card hand possible out of the cards you are dealt, in accordance with the following ranking from high to low:
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Royal Flush The ultimate hand, the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of any one suit.
1 chance in 650.000 hands. |
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Straight Flush A straight in one suit, i.e. five cards of the same suit in ascending order.
1 chance in 72.000 hands. |
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Four of a Kind Four cards of the same value.
1 chance in 4.200 hands. |
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Full House Three of a kind and a pair. The three of a kind counts first.
1 chance in 700 hands. |
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Flush Five cards of the same suit.
1 chance in 510 hands. |
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Straight Five cards of assorted suits in ascending order.
1 chance in 250 hands. |
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Three of a kind Three cards having the same face value.
1 chance in 48 hands. |
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Two Pair Two sets of pairs.
1 chance in 21 hands. |
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One Pair One pair of cards.
1 chance in 2.4 hands. |
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High Card Highest card wins the hand in the event of one of the above hands being present.
1 chance in 2 hands. |
Online poker:
Step 1 - Choosing an online poker site. The good (and bad) news is that poker is so popular nowadays that there are literally hundreds of online poker sites to choose from, so to start with you need to decide which you want to try out.
Step 2 - Downloading the software It would be hard to go wrong with any of these, as they are all reputable operators and have large numbers of players. So the next step is to begin downloading the free software from some of these sites, which can be done at the touch of a button via the relevant website.
Step 3 - Playing with 'play money' If you like the look of the graphics and the feel of the site, the next step is to sign up and try it out via the play money tables - that's right, you don't even need to pay to play in the beginning, and the sites actively encourage new players to start out here until they feel comfortable. So all you need to do is choose a screen-name to play under, register an email address and play until your hearts content. You'll be given an allocation of play chips that you can sit at the table with, and if you lose them you can just click a button on the cashier screen that allows you to replenish them. If you get bored, you can always watch the high rollers in action at the other tables, and in the biggest games its likely you'll be seeing some of the biggest names in the world in action!
Step 4 - Playing for real Once you've had your fill of play money and start to feel a little more confident it's a good idea to make a small deposit (most sites allow you to put as little as $25 or $50 into an account). This is because poker is supposed to be played for real money to stop people just doing random things, as they do in the play money games. Don't worry though, as despite crossing the line into sitting in a real poker game, this needn't be any more costly that a cinema ticket or magazine - most sites now offer 'microstakes', where the betting is in cents and you can play for hours with a few dollars, or enter small tournaments where the cost is as little as $1. Again there's no need to play bigger until you feel like it, and are confident you are better than the other players in the games. Also remember that most sites offer sign up bonuses for new players, so by playing a certain number of hands you might get $200 worth of value from a $100 deposit by taking advantage of a 100% bonus!
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Gambling could be harmful if not controlled and kept in moderation and readers engage in such activity entirely at their own risk.
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