A Complete Guide to Texas Holdem

5. In a true game of Texas Holdem, a dealer will discard the top card of the deck when betting is over to prevent any cheating and then flip the next three cards out face-up on the table in front of all of the players. These three cards become pieces of your own cards in your hand.

6. Betting begins again, starting with the player to the left again.

7. The good dealer will then discard the top card of the deck once more and then lay out one more card near the three already placed face-up on the table. This sixth card will become a piece of your hand too.

8. Lastly, the dealer will discard the top card from the deck and place the final card face-up (the river), there will five cards face-up on the table in total and two faced down each player has. The last bets will be placed beginning with the player to the left of the dealer.

9. The remaining players will show their holdings and someone will win.

Now that you know just how the hands are dealt, the bets and how to play, you need to learn what beats what beginning with the mother of all hands, the royal flush.

• The Royal Flush - An ace high straight of one suit, meaning in your possession you will have an ace, a king, a queen, a jack and a ten of one matching suit with spades being the mama of them all.

• Straight Flush - Just like the royal flush, a straight flush mean that you have a numbered sequence in order like a two, a three, a four, a five and a six complete and they are all of the same suit.

• Four Of A Kind - Often referred to as “quads” means you have four cards of the same rank. A four of a kind hand looks like four cards…four two’s, four kings or any variation of four cards of the same rank.

• Full House - Often referred to as a full boat consists of one pair and three of a kind. An example would be three queens and a pair of two’s.

• Flush - A flush simply means that you have five cards in no numerical order of the same suit, five diamonds, five hearts or just five of the same suit in any sequence.

• Straight - A straight is five cards in numerical order but made of cards of different suits. A straight can also be played using the ace high or low like an ace, a two, a three, a four and a five or an ace, a king, a queen, a jack, and a ten but all of different suits.

• Three Of A Kind - Often called Trips, simply means you have three cards of the same rank like three tens or three kings, any variation.

• Two Pair - This means exactly what it says, you have two pairs. If you have two cards of the same rank like two-two’s and two kings…you have two pairs.

• One Pair - Also, one pair means you have one pair. If you only have two cards of the same rank, those are a pair.

• High Card - Sometimes a high card is used to determine a winner when none of the players have anything. In this case beginning with an ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two will determine the winner using the ace high.

The most shocking thing that happens to a lot of poker players is when someone else has the same hand, in this case there may be two winners and it’s required to evenly split the pot.

If you’re looking for some good strategy then you may have to do some critical thinking and evaluation, be cautious not to alert anyone to what you’re holding if you have a good hand. Smiles, little gasps and twitching are all tale-tale signs when someone thinks they have a good hand. Read your opponents; watch their reactions to winning hands and losing hands to use it to your own advantage.

Watch your bets, there’s always someone who has nothing and yet bets like crazy. If you have to fold a few hands, wait for your good hand and pretend that you’re tired of folding when he has nothing and clean him out.

This could be referred to as “bluffing” but bluffing is far more complicated. Bluffing is a poker strategy that has been used for decades and for just as many ways there are to bluff…there are just as many reasons to bluff. Understanding them may help you out in the long run.

First, learn when not to bluff. If you’ve lost a series of hands or a lot of money, do not bluff because the players will not take you seriously and they’ll be more apt to simply call rather than keep betting. If you’ve been caught bluffing, don’t bluff again because the same thing will happen. Never bluff when someone thinks your going to or they expect you to and if you’re playing up against some bad players, don’t bluff because you’ll profit by playing honestly against lousy players. Lastly, don’t bluff if there’s an ace in the flop because the chance that someone may be holding a pair is really high and never bluff when playing in a large group because most players aren’t worried about anyone else but themselves.

If you bet on the flop and you have a late position, everyone else has checked—bluff away if the pot is big enough. Another good time to bluff and win a small pot is when you’re playing with just a few people. It’s easier to bluff a few at a table than a large crowd and the best thing about small games is that you can bluff again and again, just don’t get carried away. If you suspect another player is bluffing, there’s a pair on the table and you feel confident, consider the odds of the cards in the deck and bluff if it’s right.

Using this guide, you should be able to win a few hands until you really get the experience of playing the game of Texas Holdem. Poker strategy is timeless, no matter if you’re going to get together with some friends this weekend of play in a tournament this year. Get it all together, be cool and most importantly just have fun.

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