Poker Rules

Welcome to the Poker Rules section of PokerGuru - The ONE stop for Indian Poker Players. Here you can find a step by step guide to the rules of Texas Holdem and Omaha, the official rules of poker tournaments and an explanation of poker hand rankings. Already familiar with the basic poker rules? Try practicing your skills on the free money tables on PokerStars - World's largest online poker site. 

Poker Rules for Beginners

The game of Texas Holdem is played with up to 10 people per table, a deck of 52 cards and poker chip set. At the start of the game two forced bets are placed by the two players to the left of the player in dealer position - these bets are called the small and big blind (double small blind). When these blinds are placed the deal can begin: all players who are in the handwill receive two cards, the first card is dealt clockwise starting from the small blind, followed by another round of dealing with the last card going to the dealer. 

Now that all players have received cards and bets are placed, the betting opens, with the player in Under The Gun position (directly to the left of the big blind) as first to act. This stage of the game is called Pre-Flop. Once all players who are in the hand have matched the bet, the first three community cards are dealt. In live games the top card is dealt face down as the 'burn' card- to prevent marking of cards or any other forms of cheating.  

Pre-flop situation on PokerStars - Note the player positions 

Once all bets are matched pre-flop the game moves on the the next stage: The Flop.
Three community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table:

The flop here is

A new round of betting opens, beginning directly left of the dealer (small blind). Once all bets are matched, the fourth community card, the turn, is dealt:

The turncard in this situation is the

The same poker rules apply to the turn as on the flop, with the exception of Limit Games, where the minimum bet on the turn is double the minimum bet on the flop. 

After all bets are matched, the last community card is dealt:

The Rivercard in this hand is the , making a full house possible on the four-straight board.  

The final round of betting commences - all players who match the bets in this round will go to the Showdown, with the last aggressor being the first one to show his cards.

After the winner(s) in the hand are determined the pot is shipped to them , the dealer button moves one spot to the left and a new hand begins in the pre-flop stage.