The Basics

Texas Hold'Em is all about chips.  You start with some chips and your goal is to take your opponents chips.  This is a crucialthing to remember!!  The goal is not to win hands, and it's not to get good cards - it's to win chips!!  Many people, evenseemingly good players, fail to grasp this very simple first principle.

In Texas Hold'Em, each player is dealt two cards down, your "Hole" cards.  Then comes a round of betting called the "pre-flop round".Anyone still in the game sees the "flop" - that is 3 community cards, dealt face up in the center of the table for all to play.  Then comesanother round of betting.  Next comes another community card, the "turn".  Then comes another round of betting.  Finally the last communitycard, called "the river", and the final round of betting.  Now, anyone still in the hand shows their hole cards, and the best hand wins.

Your hand is made up of the best 5 cards you can make from your 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards.  You may use 0, 1, or 2 of your hole cards.Everyone plays the same community cards, but only you have your hole cards, and noone else can see them.  The ranking of hands are normal 5-cardpoker hands (I'll list them in a moment).

The player who acts as the dealer is called the "button", and play proceeds clockwise from the button.  The Player to the immediate left of the button must post the"small blind", which is half a "small bet".  The next player on the left is the "big blind", and must post a whole "small bet".  The two blindsare forced bets which make sure there's money in the pot on every hand.  There's no ante in typical Hold'Em structure, but the blinds averageout to be roughly equivalent to an ante.  The money in the middle is the "pot", and all bets go into the pot.  The winner takes the pot (or tiessplit it).

The next player is "under the gun" (UTG), and is the first player to act pre-flop.  Pre-flop action starts on the UTG player, who maynow fold, call, or bet.  In general you always have three choices - fold, call (check) or bet (raise).  A "call" is called a "check" when thebet is zero to you.  A "bet" is called a "raise" if it's already been bet, or a "re-raise" if it's already been raised.

On each round, there's a certain amount you must call to "go", that is see the next round or get to the showdown on the river.  On the pre-flop round the amount to go is the single small bet which the big blind has posted.  On each round thereafter, the amount to go starts at zero, and goes up as people bet.  Youcan already be in the pot for a certain amount, then you have to call the remainder.  For example, if it's 3 bets "to go" and you're already infor 1, then it's 2 more to you to call.  One way to do the betting on each round is for each person to stack their bets in front of them.  Then when it's your turn to call, you have to put in enough chips to match the stack of the raiser (who should have the largest stack).  The "pot" is what's in the middle from previous rounds, plus the bets that everyone has in front of them.  This is the way many No Limit tournaments are run.  As you go from one round to the next, the bets are moved from in front of the players to the pile in the middle.

Action is "live" until everyone at the table has responded to the last raiser.  That is, whoever last raised, everyone at the table must respond,in order clockwise, by either folding, calling, or raising.  If someone raises, then they are the last raiser, and everyone must respond to them.What that means is that you can only raise again if someone raises you.  So, if you bet and everyone calls, you cannot act again, action is over.

In Structured Limit Hold'Em, the bet sizes are fixed.  On the pre-flop and flop rounds, all bets must be the "small bet" size (2 chips, for example).On the turn and river, all bets must be the "big bet" size, usually double the small bet (4 chips, for example).  In No Limit Hold'Em you may be any amount of chips, up to the amount that you have.  Your bet or raise size must always be at least the size of the previous bet.

On the pre-flop round, action starts on the the player to the left of the big blind ("under the gun"), and action comes back around to the big blind.The small blind player must call the rest of the blind plus any raises.  The big blind player then always has the option to raise; if noone raised,eg. it was called around, the big blind player may still check or raise.

Typical casino Hold'Em is 9 or 10 handed.  It can be played with as many as 23 players (!!) or as few as 2.  Poker changes drastically based on how many people are in the game.

Let's do a quick example.  Four handed -

Player 0 is on the Button
Player 1 posts the small blind (1)
Player 2 posts the big blind (2)
Player 3 is under the gun, first to act
Player 3 may call the big blind (2 chips), fold or raise (put in 4 chips).
Player 3 calls (2)
Player 0 calls (2)
Player 1 calls (1 more chip)
it's 2 chips "to go"
Player 1 already posted the small blind, so it's only 1 more to him
Player 2 is in the big blind, and has the option to raise
Player 2 checks
There're now 8 chips in the pot
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We're gonna see a flop!
3 cards are dealt face up.
Now Player 1 is first to act.
It's 0 chips "to go"
Player 1 checks (calls 0)
Player 2 checks
Player 3 bets (2 chips)
It's 2 chips "to go"
Player 0 folds
Player 1 calls (2 chips)
Player 2 calls (2 chips)
There're now 14 chips in the pot
Player 3 cannot act again
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Let's see the turn!
The 4th card is dealt face up.
Player 1 bets (4 chips) - the bet size has doubled on the turn
Player 2 folds
Player 3 calls (4 chips)
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We're going to the river!
The 5th card is dealt face up.
Player 1 bets (4 chips)
Player 3 raises (8 chips)
Player 1 calls (4 chips)
Player 1 & 3 show down cards.
The best hand takes the pot.
Player 0 & 2 cannot win, they're out of the hand.