Texas Holdem Rules

Official Rules of Texas Holdem Poker

How to play Texas holdem poker? Texas Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets – forced bets by two players. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure increases periodically as the tournament progresses.

Pre-flop

After the blinds are posted and the cards are dealt, the first round of betting begins. Players can choose to raise (increasing the bet), call ( matching the bet) or fold (declining the bet and returning the cards to the dealer). Play moves clockwise until all players have put an equal amount in the pot, or have folded. Once this is done, the first three community cards are dealt and the play moves on to the flop.

The flop

Three cards are dealt face up on the table and a new round of betting starts. A poker hand consists of 5 cards so on the flop the first winning combinations are made.

The turn  

The fourth card is dealt face up and a new round of betting starts.

The River

The fifth card is dealth face up and the final betting round commences. The river is the last chance to win the pot without showing your cards 

Showdown

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker strategy hand they can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player's best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand. If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers are used to settle ties. Note that the card's numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in Hold'em. The last player to bet is the first player to show their hand.

Go to Wikipedia for an in-depth explanation of the poker rules for texas holdem.