Texas Hold 'Em Rules & Strategy

Poker is a very popular game of skill, luck, and psychology. Poker is played in many styles, from standard draw poker variations that almost everyone is familiar with, to popular casino variations, to the many non-standard variations that are played at home by enthusiasts.

Here, we run what is known as stardard Texas Hold 'Em.

The Objective

Your objective in the game of Poker is to win all the money in the pot - the accumulation of player bets gathered in the middle of the table. You may accomplish this in a couple of ways: first, have the highest ranking hand at the game's showdown; or second, cause all the other players to fold and drop out of play.

The Players

Texas Hold 'Em Poker can be played with two players to as many as 20 players, although rarely more than 11 players are seen at one table. You may see games in Level 1 with less than 10 players, but games in higher levels require 10 players to start.

One player is designated by a dealer chip, marked with a 'D'. The dealer chip marks the order of play, which begins to the left of the dealer player and proceeds clockwise. Likewise, the dealer chip also proceeds around the table from player to player at the beginning of every hand.

Each player plays by himself and himself alone against the other players. Collusion or partnership play are illegal, considered cheating, and against the Terms and Conditions.

The Deck

Texas Hold 'Em is played with a standard 52 card deck containing four suites of thirteen cards each: clubs, diamonds, spades, and hearts. The cards are valued in descending order with the Ace being the most powerful and followed by the picture cards or face cards: King, Queen, Jack; followed by the number cards: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, to and finally two (the deuce).

The suits have no basic value in the determination of winning hands. It is the combination of cards and not the individual cards that determine the value of a player's hand.

Card Abbreviations

On this page we'll refer to the cards by the following symbols: Ace (A), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J). The others will be referred to by their numeric value (7), (4), (2), etc.

Hand Rankings

All poker hands consist of five cards. We'll start with the highest value hand and work our way down.

Royal Flush

A suited hand with A K Q J 10 is called a Royal Flush. The Royal Flush is the most powerful hand in poker, and one that a player may never see in a lifetime of play.

Straight Flush

Five cards of the same suite in numerical sequence is known as a Straight Flush. The relative value of Straight Flushes is indicated by naming the high card. The example above is called a "Queen High Straight Flush".

When two Straight Flushes are in competition for the pot, the Straight Flush with the highest ranking card wins out. The example above, a Queen High Straight Flush, will beat a Jack High Straight Flush.

The ace must be used as either the highest card in the Straight Flush (in which case it would be a Royal Flush) or the lowest. For example, 5, 4, 3, 2, A is a valid Straight Flush, but J, Q, K, A, 2 isn't a Straight Flush, just a regular Flush only.

Four of a Kind

Four cards of identical value, such as the example above (10 10 10 10 Q) is called a Four of a Kind. The extra card not comprising the four identical value cards, such as the Q above, has no bearing on the rank of the hand.

Full House

A Full House consists of three cards of identical rank along with two cards of an identical but different rank.

When two players hold Full Houses, the player holding the higher ranking three of a kind wins the pot.

Flush

Any five cards of the same suite is called a Flush. Like a Straight, a Flush is also named with its high card. The example above is called a Nine High Flush.

When two or more players hold Flushes, the Flush with the highest ranking card winds the pot. If the highest ranking cards in competing Flushes hold the same value, then the next highest cards decide the winner and so on down until the last card.

Straight

Five non-suited cards in sequential order comprise a Straight. Like the Straight Flush, when a Straight contains an ace, it must serve as either the highest or lowest card in the sequence. The hand K A 2 3 4 is merely an ace high, and would be beaten by a simple Pair.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of identical value in a hand with two additional unmatched cards is called a Three of a Kind. Three of a Kind hands are often referred to using 'trip' - the example above would be called "Trip Jacks", and a 4 4 4 9 J hand would be called "Trip Fours".

Two Pair

Two sets of equal value cards along with an unmatched card is comprise a Two Pair hand. The example above would be referred to as "Kings over Threes", while a hand A A 7 7 2 would be called "Aces over Sevens".

One Pair

One set of equal value cards along with three additional unmatched cards is called a Pair. Pairs are ranked aces to deuces, highest to lowest. When two players hold equally matched pairs, the highest unmatched card decides the winner. If the highest unmatched cards are of equal value, then the next highest cards are compared - and on down until the last unmatched cards if required.

High Card

A hand containing five unmatched cards, lacking any of the above combinations, is determined by its highest ranking card. The hand above is considered a King High hand, and would beat out a lesser Ten High hand like 10 7 4 3 2.

When two players have identical high cards, the hand with the next highest card wins, and if they too are equal, the next two highest cards are compared, and so on until the last card if necessary.

Chips

All players at all Levels receive 1000 chips at the beginning of a tournament.

Antes

An ante is a uniform bet placed by all players into the pot before the cards are dealt. The ante creates more action in a game by creating an immediate pot, which sharp players, under the right circumstances, may go after right from the start.

On this site, an ante is only required after a long duration, in accordance to the blind schedule, and increases in 8 minute intervals subsequently. At that point, all players must contribute to the ante - hence, the system will automatically post the antes for all players.

Gameplay

Texas Hold 'Em is played out in four betting rounds followed by a showdown. Each player receives two pocket cards to begin with and at the end of the round all players will have five additional community cards with which to build a hand.

Pocket Cards

The dealer begins dealing to the player to the left of the dealer button, and deals the cards one at a time in clockwise rotation until each player has received two face-down cards, called pocket (or hole) cards.

Blind Bets

The first and second players to the left of dealer button are known as blind bettors, since they must post blind bets to the pot before play begins. The first blind bettor places a "big blind", the second player places a "small blind" which is half the value of the big blind. The blind amounts vary from level to level and increase as the game continues. This sweetens the pot and creates immediate action since it forces subsequent players to call the blinds to remain active in the hand.

If no player calls the blind bets, they return to the blind bettors.

In our sit-n-go ladder tournaments, blinds start at 20 for the big blind and 10 for the small blind, and increase in 8 minute intervals. Blinds are required to be posted, so will be automatically posted by the system for the blind players.

Player Options

Except for the times when a bet is mandatory, as is usually the case in the initial rounds of play, the first player to act in a better round has three options: he may place a bet - money wagered and placed into the pot; he can check - make no bet at all and pass play to the next player while remaining an active player; or he can fold - throw down his cards and forfeit the hand for the current deal.

Once a bet is placed, a player no longer has the option of checking his turn. To remain an active player, he must either call the bet - place an amount of money equal to the bet into the pot; or he can raise - call the bet and make an additional bet on top of the bet called. If a player doesn't want to bet, he must fold. Each subsequent player is in turn faces with these same options: call, raise, or fold.

To continue playing for the pot, a player must call the original bet and any raises that were made, or he may fold his cards if he doesn't want to call the bets and raises that preceded.

When play returns around again to the original bettor, he must call any previous raises to continue as an active player or he must fold. A player may also raise again if the raise limit hasn't been reached. A player may not raise his own bet - he may only raise another player's bet. He may also not raise past the table's raise limits.

Need info here about raise limits.

Betting Limits

We run no-limit hold'em so you can always bet what ever you have left at the table.

All In

When ever you go all-in, your stake in the pot is assured. Example: If 4 people remain and you go all in, and bet 100, and the other 3 players have more, your stake will be 100 in the pot, so if you have the best hand, you will win 400. If the othe players have more than you and keep betting more, those bets will be accumlated to a side-pot.

The Flop

Once the initial betting round is over, three cards are dealt face up on the table. This is the Flop, and it is used by all the players to build their hands.

The next round of betting begins, starting with the big blind bettor, or, if he has folded, the player in the next active position to his left.

The Turn (or Fourth Street)

On the following round, the Turn, or Fifth Street, a fourth community card is dealt face up on the table. Players now have a total of six cards t o form their best hand. Betting on this round also begins with the blind, or, if he has folded, the next active player to his left.

There is no forced opening bet on the Turn (or the River, which follows), so the first player to act may check to open play. Subsequent players may check as well. If all players check, then the betting round is over and River play will commence. Should a player open betting on the Turn, then all active players must call that bet to remain in the pot.

The River (or Fifth Street)

After the Turn betting, the fifth and final community card will be turned over in the center of the table. Players now have seven cards, including their pocket cards, to form their best hand.

At the River there is one final betting round, followed by the showdown. The highest ranking hand wins at the showdown, or, if all opponents have folded, the last remaining player wins by default, and collects all the antes, bets, and raises that have been made.

The Showdown

Following the conclusion of all betting in the River round, if two or more players remain the Showdown occurs. It is the final act in a poker game where remaining players reveal their hands to determine the winner of the pot.

The cards of player whose last bet or raise was called will be shown on screen, with the his poker hand named in a small box near his cards. Yellow lines are connected to the cards that comprise his hand. The Showdown continues to the left, with all player's cards and hands being displayed.

If only one player remains after the final betting round, or at any point in the game, then there is no showdown and the remaining player automatically wins the pot.

Need information on split pot rules/procedures here.