Texas Hold’em Rules
Played with the standard deck of 52 cards where each player is dealt 2 cards, and four betting phases will follow as 5 community cards will be dealt during the game. These 2 cards dealt to you (known as ‘hole cards’) will be your own cards that will be used to form the best 5 cards together with the community cards by the end of the game. In No-Limit Texas Hold’em, each betting round allows for players to bet all their chips, while other variants such as pot-limit, only allows the player to bet a maximum of what’s in the pot (which is the money in the middle of the table) during that betting round. Have a look at beginner poker strategy and familiarise yourself with the below poker terminology to round off your knowledge of poker.

Betting, Blinds and Showdown
The game starts by deciding which player gets dealt the first card, and which player has the last action of the round. This is determined by which player is the ‘Dealer’, followed by the ‘Small Blind’ and the ‘Big Blind’. Betting is done during each of the 4 betting phases, followed by a showdown where an eventual winner will win the pot!

Betting
A player has 5 betting actions available to them in most situations, ‘Fold’, ‘Call’, ‘Check’, ‘Bet’ or ‘Raise’.

Fold
A player may choose to fold at any time during any of the betting rounds if they feel that they can’t win the hand, however the player forfeits any chips invested into the pot.

Call 
In order to continue playing the hand, a player may choose to ‘Call’, which is putting in the amount equal to what a previous player had bet. During the ‘Pre-Flop’ betting phase, this would be equal to the current ‘Big Blind’ amount if no raise has been made.

Check 
If there are no bets in the current round, the player can choose to ‘Check’ and pass the action to the next player in hand or proceeding to the next betting phase.

Bet 
If there are no bets in the current round, a player can choose to bet, which means the other players have to put in chips as well in order to continue or win the pot (Minimum would be equal to the Big Blind). and the maximum would depend on No-Limit or Pot-Limit)

Raise 
If there was a bet before the player during the current betting phase, the player may choose to ‘Raise’ by increasing the bet amount by at least double the previously bet amount. If a player decides to put all his money into the pot, this player would be considered to be ‘All-In’ and would see the “Showdown’ should any other player call. A player that does not have enough chips to raise or bet at least 1 Big Blind will also be considered to be ‘All-In’.

Blinds & Dealer
The dealer and the blinds decide the order of which player gets to act first or last during the betting phases. The 2 players to the left of the dealer are the ‘Blinds’, where the player immediately to the left of the dealer would be the ‘Small Blind’, and the next player would be the ‘Big Blind’. The ‘Small Blind’ gets dealt the first card and the ‘Dealer’ would be dealt the last card.

Big Blind
The ‘Big Blind’ is forced to put in 1 ‘Big Blind’ which is determined by the stakes of the table, which can be seen under ‘Stakes’ in the lobby, such as $0.50/$1. The ‘Big Blind’ amount would also be the minimum bet size for the betting round. This player will have the last action during the ‘Pre-Flop’ betting phase, and even has the chance to win the ‘Small Blind’ should all players fold during this phase!

Small Blind
The ‘Small Blind’ is forced to put in half the amount of the ‘Big Blind’, and would be the second-last player to act ‘Pre-Flop’, situated immediately to the left of the dealer.

Dealer
This is also known as having the ‘Dealer Button’, which indicates that this player has the last betting action after the ‘Pre-Flop’ phase. This is usually an advantageous position since this player has the knowledge of seeing what the players do before him/her, while having the option to ‘Fold’, ‘Call’, ‘Check’, ‘Bet’ or ‘Raise’.

Betting Phases
There are 4 betting phases during a round of Texas Hold’em, which are the times where players must choose one of the above betting actions to take. This is where the game gets exciting!

Pre-Flop
This is the start of the game where each player gets their own personal cards, where the action begins with the player after the ‘Big Blind’.
Now the first betting phase begins as players decide if they would want to ‘Fold’, ‘Call’ or ‘Raise’ without seeing any of the community cards. Once all players have made their decision, the ‘Flop’ will be dealt.

Flop
The first 3 community cards are dealt, where all players in the hand can use together with their own cards to form the best possible poker hand ranking. This betting phase begins with the player to the left of the dealer button, and betting action continues clockwise.

Turn
The next community card, also known as the ‘Turn’ card, will be dealt once betting action on the ‘Flop’ has been completed. The next round of betting action continues with the players still in the hand in the same manner, starting with the remaining players to the left of the dealer button. Once all betting is completed and 2 or more players are still in the hand, the “River’ card will be dealt.

River
The final community card is dealt, known as the ‘River’ card, putting 5 community cards in play.
Players will now know the final strength of their hand, and the last betting phase begins in the same order as before, with the remaining players. Many players choose this time to bluff in order to avoid a ‘Showdown’ with a weak hand, so beware!

Showdown
When there are more than 1 player left in the hand after the ‘River’ card is dealt and betting is completed, the players will have the final ‘Showdown’ that determines the winner of the hand. This starts with the player who bet last to show his hand, or if no bet was made on the river, the player closest to left of the ‘Dealer’ will show his cards first. The player with the best 5 card hand ranking will win the pot! In the event of a tie, the pot is divided equally with the players with the best hand.