If you want to play Texas Hold em, and it seems like everyone does these days, you're going to need to learn the rules. What's the best way to learning the Texas Holdem rules? Well you can start by reading this article! Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game, meaning that certain cards are shared by all the players. Each player gets two cards face down. There is a round of betting, and then three more cards, called a flop, are laid face up in the middle. More betting, and then a fourth card, called fourth street or the turn, is laid face up. After more betting, a fifth card, the called fifth street or the river, goes up on the table. One more round of bets. You now make your best five card poker hand using the two in your hand plus the five in the middle, also called the board. Unlike Stud or Draw games which often use antes to build the pot, pots are created in Texas Hold'em with blind bets, forced bets that players must put in before the hand starts. The two players to the left of the dealer, called the small and big blinds respectively, must start the action by putting in half a bet (for the small blind) and a full bet (for the big blind). The other players must call or raise this bet to continue playing. The blinds may raise their own bets when the action gets to them if they wish. After the flop, players may bet or check (pass) depending on how much they like their hand, starting with the small blind and proceeding clockwise around the table. The deal rotates every hand, so no player has the advantage of always acting last. In a no limit Texas Hold em game, players can bet as much as they want at any time. In a pot limit Hold'em game, they can bet up to the amount that is already in the pot. In a fixed limit Texas Hold’em game, the limits are predetermined. For example in a $5/$10 fixed limit Hold'em game, players can bet or raise $5 before and on the flop, and $10 after. The best way to learn these rules is to play. You can get used to the rhythm of a Hold'em game by watching poker on television or observing Internet games, but this is no substitute for sitting down at the table yourself. If you don't want to risk any money before you really understand the game, you have plenty of options. You can play on an Internet site for play money. You can set up a home game just for fun, or you can purchase Texas Hold'em software and play against the computer. There are even inexpensive Texas Hold'em games for videogame consoles like Playstation and X-box. A few hours of play should familiarize you with the basic rules well enough for you to start experimenting with some more advanced strategies. There's no rush though; the big games will be there when you are ready for them. Have fun and good luck! Contributed Poker Article
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