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How to Play Poker

Learn Texas Holdem

TEXAS HOLD’EM

texas holdem poker show hands

Poker is one of the most popular card games, both in live and online casinos. While poker is played in a multitude of variations, Texas Hold'em is the type played most often in the world. Playing poker may look simple, however, it actually is not as there are a lot of factors to consider when making that split decision to bet, call or fold.

There are 2 variations of Texas Holdem:

· No Limit Texas Holdem: where the maximum bet can be the player’s whole chip stack.

· Limit Holdem: where the maximum bet is limited to equal or double the big blind, depending on the round of play.

Between the 2, No Limit Texas Holdem (NLH) is the more popular variant.

If you are planning to play Texas Holdem poker for the first time, learning the basic rules is essential to understand the gameplay and the strategy you will use.

THE RULES

The objective of Texas Hold’em Poker is to win with the best hand out of all the hands dealt.Players are initially given two cards face down, called “hole” cards, which is used by the player throughout the game. They then try to make the best five-card hand combination using at most 2 of their initial hole cards and the five shared cards spread on the table. These shared cards are called community cards.

A marker called ‘the button’ or ‘the dealer button’ indicates which player is the nominal dealer for the current game.The game begins with the two players to the left of the dealer button putting a predetermined amount of money in the pot, called blinds. The player sitting immediately to the left of the button posts the "small blind". The 2nd player to the left of the button posts the "big blind", which is typically twice the size of the small blind. The value of the blinds are dependent on the blind structure of the game.

Texas Hold’em has 4 betting rounds.

Texas Holdem Community Cards

THE PRE-FLOP

Everyone gets two cards (dealt face down). Action begins with each player having the option to fold, call or raise the blinds. Action moves clockwise.

Actions Explained:

· Fold: When a player gives up the hand and returns the cards to the dealer. A player who folds no longer becomes part of the action in the succeeding rounds of play.

· Call: When a player matches the value of the big blind or the previous bet made by another player.

· Raise: When a player increases the bet to make it harder for other players to call

THE FLOP

Three cards are spread face up in the middle of the table. The action is similar to pre-flop, however if nobody has bet previously, players may opt to check which means passing the action to the next active player.

THE TURN

A fourth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Another round of betting ensues, beginning with the active player immediately clockwise from the button.

THE RIVER

A fifth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table and a new betting round occurs. If there are still 2 or more active players at the end of the betting round, the players proceed to the last round.

THE SHOWDOWN

The players show their hole cards to the other players and whoever has the best 5-card hand, using at most 2 hole cards in combination with the community cards, wins the game

In a game of Texas Hold’em, it's always possible for a player to ‘BLUFF’ and get others to fold better hands. And that’s really where the fun begins.

Learn Omaha

Omaha

Omaha is very similar to Texas Holdem but instead of getting 2 hole cards (the initial cards dealt at the beginning of the game), the player gets dealt 4 cards, allowing for a lot more opportunities to create the best 5-card hand. Another rule that is different from Texas Holdem is that in Omaha, the player has to use 2 out of 4 of his hole cards to win the hand.

There are 2 variations of Omaha:

· Pot Limit Omaha (PLO): where the maximum bet is limited to the size of the pot

· Omaha Hi-Low: where the lowest and the highest hand ranking wins the game.

· No Limit Omaha: where the maximum bet can be the player’s whole chip stack.

Pot Limit Omaha is the more popular variant played around the world. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be explaining the rules of PLO.

THE RULES

The objective of Omaha Poker is to win with the best hand out of all the hands dealt. Players are initially given 4 cards face down, called “hole” cards, which is used by the player throughout the game. They then try to make the best five-card hand combination using 2 of their initial hole cards and the five shared cards spread on the table. These shared cards are called community cards.

A marker called ‘the button’ or ‘the dealer button’ indicates which player is the nominal dealer for the current game.The game begins with the two players to the left of the dealer button putting a predetermined amount of money in the pot, called blinds. The player sitting immediately to the left of the button posts the "small blind". The 2nd player to the left of the button posts the "big blind", which is typically twice the size of the small blind. The value of the blinds are dependent on the blind structure of the game.

Omaha has 4 betting rounds.

THE PRE-FLOP

Everyone gets 4 cards (dealt face down). Action begins with each player having the option to fold, call or raise the blinds. Action moves clockwise.

Actions Explained:

· Fold: When a player gives up the hand and returns the cards to the dealer. A player who folds no longer becomes part of the action in the succeeding rounds of play.

· Call: When a player matches the value of the big blind or the previous bet made by another player.

· Raise: When a player increases the bet to make it harder for other players to call

THE FLOP

Three cards are spread face up in the middle of the table. The action is similar to pre-flop, however if nobody has bet previously, players may opt to check which means passing the action to the next active player.

THE TURN

A fourth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Another round of betting ensues, beginning with the active player immediately clockwise from the button.

THE RIVER

A fifth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table and a new betting round occurs. If there are still 2 or more active players at the end of the betting round, the players proceed to the last round.

THE SHOWDOWN

The players show their hole cards to the other players and whoever has the best 5-card hand, using 2 hole cards in combination with the community cards, wins the game

In a game of Omaha, because a player received 4 hole cards, the possibility of bluffing to get better hands to fold is much higher. And that’s really where the fun begins.


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