General Information
Texas Holdem Poker has increased in popularity in the last few years due to it receiving a lot of television and internet exposure. Tournaments like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have made Texas Holdem a very well known version of poker.
Game Play
The games starts with the player to the left of the dealer putting the first blind towards the pot. This is called the small blind, The player then to his left must put in the big blind, The dealer then deals each player two cards face down. The player to the big blind's left then starts the betting round. The players can then call, raise or fold. This happens in a clockwise manner around the table.
When the round is complete, the dealer places three cards face up in the centre of the table. These are community cards. Another round of betting ensues. Once all players have either called, raised or folded the Turn round starts.
In the Turn round the dealer places another card face up with the community cards. Another round of betting takes place starting from the blinds. This betting round's amount is set at the table's high limit. This is the first expensive street.
Once all bets have been made, the final round (called the River round) takes place. The dealer places another card face up among the community cards, to bring the total number of community cards to five. Again this is an expensive street and betting starts from the blinds in a clockwise manner around the table.
At the end of the River round, it's time for the Showdown. Unlike the other Poker styles, players may use only the community cards if they wish and ignore their hole cards completely. The best poker hand is made up of five cards. If there are two players with the same hand (i.e. both players have two pairs of the same value cards), they generally split the pot.
