Texas Holdem Poker: Basic Guide to Playing

Texas Holdem is one of the most well-known poker games in existence. The laws of this game are too simple, but also very difficult to reach the career level. This is because unlike purely luck-based game, decisions are made based on strategy and skill. PHDream Poker can be played in many different ways. In this article, we are going to help you learn how to play the most notorious type of Poker.

General Introduction to Texas Hold’m Poker

Poker is a live casino game between players, this one to quite famous in the Philippines. The winner will win the collective wager of all players.

The game of poker is older than time, having came to prominence in the United States as early as the 1820s but up until year-2000 era it was still an exclusive pastime exclusively and only popular among Western population. It then evolved into an international sport before it moved in every country around the world.

Overview of a Texas Holdem Poker Round

A Poker round has 4 Rounds of Betting, which are the stages: Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, River. After each round of betting, the ones who choose to bet will put every single one into an area in the middle called Pot. This betting round ends only when all players’ bets are current (without being forced to fold) and no one raises the bet further. The player with the strongest hand after 4 rounds of betting. But the round can end at any time if one player raises, and all others fold to leave only the raiser, in which case they will win from just their opponent.

The winner takes the entire pot. If the winner had gone all-in earlier, they only win the amount in the pot up to the point they went all-in.

Detailed Sequence of a Texas Holdem Round

Similarly, in a Poker round two players have to post the forced bets also known as blinds for starting off the game. The two players to the immediate left of The Dealer are;

• Small blind: The player to the immediate left of the Dealer posts this.
• The second player keeps the initial bet in place, which is called a small blind and then puts double of it to stake as big-blind. In the following rounds, this becomes your minimum bet. All these bets are placed before the cards have been dealt.

After that, the cards are dealt as described in the game setup (each player receives 2 hole cards, and 5 community cards are placed face down on the table), and the game begins with the following rounds:

Round 1: Pre-Flop

All players have now been dealt their two hole cards. Here, in this round the big blind is always last to act and first available action sits on player who immediately left to BB.

Such is how they are to act clockwise following on 1 of these actions (folding, calling and betting, etc.), but the checking is not allowed.

When all of the players have bet, complete this round. They pool all the bets together.

Note: Only in the Pre-Flop round does the player to the left of the big blind act first. From the following rounds, the small blind player will be the first to act.

Round 2: Flop

This is where the second round, known as the Flop begins after wrapping up of Pre-Flop. The Dealer then discloses the initial 3 community cards held in the midst of the table. These 3 cards and the two hole cards a player holds can make this evaluation for you, allowing them to decide between same or fold during their turn.

The first player, that is to the left of the Dealer and that starts off this round betting action is small blind.

The actions in this round are the same as those in previous rounds, like folding, betting and raising etc. But now, they will also be able to check if no bet has been made.

Round 3: The Turn

On the Turn, this round again starts with the Dealer exposing another community card. There is another round of betting started by the small blind player.

Round 4: The River

You will see the river (the 5th and final community card). This is when players get to judge how strong your hand is. The final betting round takes place with the players still in play

Showdown

If there is more than one player left after 4 betting rounds, we head to the showdown. This is the final stage which determines who of all the players with a hand win what bit of change. In the event two or more players have a exactly identical hand then they share the pot equally.

The game can also end at any time if all the other players fold, and there is but one player remaining in which to take a win. This person then takes home everything that was bet on the table!

Tips for Playing Texas Holdem Well

Control your emotions during the game

In real-money Texas Holdem games, this is one of the hardest things that most do not have— emotional discipline. It will make it harder to control the following hands, and you can end up blowing your full bankroll. Hence, a sound and steady mental state is essential.

Don’t play too many hands

Avoid the beginner mistake of playing too many hands: To play Poker well, you should be selecting only very few starting hand combinations. Although every hand has the chance to win, some are clearly better than others. Stick to drafting heavy starting cards that will help your chances of winning and increasing your reward.

Don’t bluff too often

One of the Poker myths is that bluffing needs to be part of your arsenal in order for you to win. But there are some cases and games that bluff will be work on other side. No good against those who never fold Bluffing is something that comes with time and effort, so get good at bluffing after you make money using your existing hand strength.