Texas Holdem Poker Rules: Become the master of the game

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

Texas holdem poker, known as Hold?em, is the most favorite poker game, played both at homes and in casinos. Poker is the no 1 casino game and texas holdem is the no1 poker game. And there is no doubt about it! People love to play its different version because it is easy to learn, amusing to play and best to gamble. Due to its huge popularity, it is a main event of the World Series of Poker. Not only in casinos and at homes, texas holdem is also played over internet. Infact online casinos have ranked it the most liked and most played game. Playing online is as exciting and amusing as in atlantic city and las vegas.

If you want to become a professional texas holdem poker player, or at least an intermediate player, then you must be fully aware of the general and basic texas holdem rules and the texas holdem hands to play. You can learn how to play texas holdem poker within a day or so, but mastering the game of poker takes lots of patience and practice. General texas holdem poker rules are:

1.The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Players are dealt with two "down" cards and five "up" cards. Five "up" cards are called community cards and are shared by all players on the table. This game can be played with at least 2 players and at the most 11 players.

2.One person acts as a dealer. His duties include shuffling the cards, distributing the cards and controlling the flow of the game.

3.The two players on the left side of the dealer start the game by making the blind bets. Now each player is given 2 "down" cards. These are the "hole" cards of the players. This round is called "pre-flop" round.

4.Now dealer turns over the three cards in the middle of the table. Now the second betting round starts. This betting round starts to the player on the left of the dealer and continues to the left. In this round a player can call, raise or fold, if there is a bet on the table. If there is no bet on the table then a player can make the bet or check.

5.As the second betting round ends, the dealer distributes another "up" card. This card is called "turn". Players can use this sixth card now to form a five card poker hand. The player to the left of the dealer starts the betting round. In this round the bet amount becomes equal to the maximum table bet.

6.Now the final betting round starts. Dealer distributes the final card which is called "river". A player can use any combination of cards to make the hand. A hand may be one pocket card and four community card or 2 pocket cards and 3 community cards.

7.Now all the players which are in the hand show their cards. The best hand wins the pot. However, during the game a player can fold and can get out of the hand in any time.

Texas holdem poker is the name of entertainment and jackpots. The cheat game of the past is now the no 1 casino game. And this popularity is due to the simplicity, tricks and chances. Texas holdem poker rules help you to learn and to play texas holdem games. So learn them to play!