Texas Hold'em Rules
A Texas Hold'em game starts with a round disc --
commonly known as a "dealer
button"
-- rotating in a clockwise direction by one seat. This button is
a placemarker for the seat or player that is designated as the dealer
for that round. The dealer always has a positional advantage in being
the last person to act in turn therefor rotating the button is
necessary for fair play.
The game proceeds with the two players to the left of the
dealer putting a predetermined amount of money into the pot before
any cards are dealt, ensuring that there's something to play for on
every hand. This is called "
posting
the blinds." Most often, the "first blind" -- the player to the
left of the dealer -- puts up half the minimum bet, and the "second
blind" puts up the full minimum bet.
Each player is dealt two cards, face down. A round of betting
begins with the player to the left of the two who posted the blinds.
Players can call, raise, or fold when it's their turn to act.
After the first betting round, three cards are dealt face up in the
center of the table These cards are called the "
flop."
After the flop, another round of betting takes place, beginning with
the player to the left of the dealer (the button). During this and all
future rounds of betting, players can check, call, raise, or fold when
it's their turn.
A fourth card is dealt to the center of the table, this is called the
Turn or sometimes called Fourth
Street
Another round of betting commences with the minimum bet now increased
to the higher limit
The fifth and final community card is dealt to the boad.. known as the
River or Fifth Street
There is a final round of betting and a showdown with whoever is left
and has not folded
The betting structure in a limit game is limited to 4 bets/round. Let
us use for an example a 50c/$1 game
Preflop and at the flop, the bets and raises are limited to the
50c level.
At this level, there can be a bet 50-> raise1-> reraise1.50
->reraise 2 -> call
If the betting is capped, each player who did not fold has
contributed $2 to the pot.
At the turn and river, the bets are doubled to the higher limit ($1)
At this level, there can be a
bet 1-> raise2-> reraise3 ->reraise 4 -> call
If the betting is capped, each player who did not fold has
contributed $4 to the pot.
If the betting was capped at each round, each player who stayed
in would have contributed a total of $12
If the hand does not reach a showdow (someone bet and everyone
else folds) the pot is awarded to the person who bet without
any obligated to show their cards. They could have been
bluffing and stole the pot or they could have had a good hand Nobody
knows. This is what makes poker a fascinating game. Ofcourse, for all
this to be meaningful the game must be played for real money otherwise
everybody just calls all the way to the river with impunity .
