How to Play 7-card Texas Hold'em Poker
7-card Texas Hold 'em is currently the most the poker game available.
Up to 10 people can play at one time. It's the game you'll see on TV, whether on Late Night
Poker or the World Poker Tour, and it's the most common game you'll find online.
The Basic Game
In Texas Hold 'em you only get 2 cards from the dealer.
5 cards are laid open on the table - known as the 'community cards'.
The winner is the player who can put together the best 5-card hand from the 7
available cards.
The game itself is split into 4 betting rounds.
In the first instance, 2 cards are dealt allowing the players to decide
if they have good enough cards to continue.
Here, the first round of betting takes place.
The second round is known as the 'flop' - where 3 of the community cards are dealt.
At this point, more is known about the potential of their hand and whether to continue
betting.
Once this betting round is over, the fourth card, know as the 'turn' is dealt.
Another betting round follows until the fifth and final community card is dealt -
known as the 'river'.
When the final betting round has taken place, the players reveal their cards and
the winner is made known.
The Betting Rounds
Betting takes place in a clockwise order. The first person to bet is the player sitting
to the left of the dealer. Online, the dealer is represented by a 'button'
The player with the dealer's button is possibly in the strongest position since they have
the ability to see the players actions before getting to bet themselves.
In order to equal things out, each player gets a chance to deal.
The first player to bet has 3 choices - to BET, FOLD (ie not play their hand) or
CHECK - checking is essentially passing the opportunity to the next player.
After this first bet, the remaining players have the chance to RAISE, FOLD or CALL
- that is, matching the previous players bet. The betting is over once all the remaining
players have made their decision at least once and either folded or contributed
the same amount to the pot (the bet money in the middle of the table).
At most, in each betting round there are the maximum of three raises.
Small and Big Blinds
To begin a game of Texas Hold em and in order to ensure there is money in the pot, when a hand starts, the 2 nearest players on the left of the dealer places mandatory bets known as BLINDS (this is since at this point no-one has seen their cards). One player places a SMALL BLIND which is half the table minimum whilst the second player bets the full minimum. When a player first sits at a table, he/she will be required to post a Big Blind. This is to ensure fairness in a game, and stops playing from coming in and out of a game just before its their to post their blind
Bet Sizes
Texas Hold 'em usually offers minimum and maximum betting limits so
the bet sizes is determined by these limits. During the first two rounds of betting,
the minimum bets apply and all bets and raises follow this limit.
During the final two rounds, the maximum bets apply - often double the minimum bet.
For example, at a £5-10 table, the minimum bet is £5 and the maximum is £10.
For the really brave players out there at a 'no limit' table, anything goes.
Top Pocket Cards
These are the commonly accepted Top 10 Pocket cards (first 2 cards dealt to the player) in Hold'Em:
- AA
- KK
- QQ
- JJ
- AK Suited
- TT
- AK Mixed
- AQ Suited
- KQ Suited
- AJ Suited
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