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Texas Hold'Em is
the favorite of professional Poker players. It's an
aggressive, flashy, excited and unpredictable game that gets
the dollars on the table and changing hands like no other form
of Poker. Some of the old hard-nut players prefer 7-Card Stud
but everyone else is in love with Hold'Em. It is the game that
players at the World Series of Poker play to determine who
takes home $1,000,000 and the champion's custom 14-karat gold
bracelet.
In Hold'Em players form a five-card hand from seven available
cards. Only two cards are actually held by the player as
pocket cards. The other five are open, dealt to the middle of
the table and shared by all players. This means there are less
cards in play, which is why Hold'Em typically seats nine or
more players at the table.
The Seats
The dealer is marked by a disk called the button. For each
hand the button rotates to the left. Players are identified by
their seat position. The dealer is seat one, the player to the
dealer's left is seat two and so on, clockwise around the
table to the player on the dealer's right.
Casino Hold'Em has a fixed dealer and the button rotates
around the table simply to mark the rotation of theoretical
dealer. Betting position significantly affects a player's
opportunities so the button's position in not simply symbolic.
Beginner Hold'Em games typically starts with $1-$2 or $2-$4,
but the highest can be as much as $500-$1000 or even more.
Instead of a small ante in 7-Stud, Hold'Em uses two forced
bets, the blinds, to get Bets on the table right from the
beginning of the game.
The Open
The first player to the dealer's left - seat two - is the
small blind and must kick in half the lower limit, $5 in a
$10-$20 game. Seat three is the big blind and must kick in the
full value of the lower limit or $10 in a $10-$20 game.
The deal rotates clockwise around the table beginning with the
player to the big blind's left. Each player is dealt their
first card in turn, then their second, and so on.
Since the blinds opened with their forced bets, seat four, the
player to the big blind's right, bets first. They Call by
matching the big blind ($10, the lower limit) and may also
Raise by kicking in the big limit, $20 in the $10-$20 example
game. In this round Checking is not permitted. The blinds in
Hold'Em are live in that they can Call, Raise or Fold.
The Flop
Once the first betting round has completed, the dealer lays
out the first three community cards in the center of the
table. This is called the flop. This betting round begins with
the blinds, or the first remaining seat on the dealer's left.
Checking is permitted now and for the rest of the hand. Bets
are placed at the lower limit ($10).
A fourth community card it dealt onto the table. Betting
begins with the blinds, as before. Now, and for the rest of
this game, Bets and Raises are at the high limit ($20). The
turn becomes the first expensive street.
The fifth and final community card is dealt. This is also an
expensive street: Bets and Raises are all at the high limit
($20).
The Showdown
As in 7 Card Stud, the best 5 card hand wins. Players may form
their final hands from any combination of the table cards and
their own pocket cards, even ignoring the pocket cards and
using only the table cards.
In Hold'Em any player has option to see another player's
pocket cards once they've been mucked. Provided the requesting
player has Called or Raised the last Bet made, they simply ask
the dealer and the mucked cards will be retrieved and shown.
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