Texas Holdem Rule
Texas hold 'em is quite likely the most popular poker game played in casinos in the United States. Hold 'em is one of the ‘community card’ poker games. That means that some of cards are to be used by all of the players. Texas hold 'em can be played with 2 to 10 people. Each player only starts with two cards, and the remaining cards are shared.
Like most other variations of poker, the goal of Texas hold 'em is to win the pots. A pot is the sum of the money that has been betted by oneself and other players in a hand. A pot is won either at the showdown where the players that are left in the game compare their hands by forming the best five card poker hand out of the seven cards available, or by betting to cause other players to fold and give up their claim to the pot.
Hold 'em is played using small and big ‘blind’ bets. Two players force these types of bets. Antes, which are ‘forced’ contributions by all players, and can be used as well as the blind bets, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer ‘button’ is used to represent the player that is the dealer for a particular hand and the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand to change the position of the dealer and the blinds. A small ante is made by the player to the left of the dealer and is equal to half of the big ante. The big ante/blind, which is made by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses.
When there are only two players left in the hand, the special 'head-to-head' or 'heads up' rules are enforced and the blinds are made differently than usually expected. In this case, the dealer makes the small blind, or ante, while his or her opponent makes the big blind. The dealer is always dealt the last card, but acts first before the flop. After the flop, the dealer goes last for the rest of the hand.
The most common variants of Texas hold 'em are known as “limit hold 'em”, “no-limit hold 'em”, and “pot-limit hold 'em”. Limit hold 'em has been the most popular form of hold 'em found in casino live action games in the United States. In limit hold 'em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting must be equal to the big ante. This amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting, known as “turn and river”, bets and raises must be equal to twice the big ante/blind. This amount is called the big bet.