hold'em rulesDealing and the Blinds...
All players at the table will take there turn to be the dealer, usually a white disk with the word "Dealer" will dictate where the play will start, this is called "the Button" a frequent term in Poker. Now the play will start to the dealers left, this being "the small blind" The small Blind will post a small bet before any cards come out, the player left of the small blind is what we call "the big blind",The big blind will post a bet double the size of the small blind, lets say for instance if the small blind is set at £/$2, the big blind will have to post £/$4. Blinds will bet set before a tournement/cash game starts, in a tournement blinds will go up in levels usually between 15 minutes or 30 minutes for example- first 30 minutes blinds will be 20/40 level 2 - 40/80 level 3 - 80/160 and so on... In a cash game it works a little different, blinds tend to stay at one limit, so depending on how much you wish to play with you can choose a table that suits your needs. Most cash tables in poker rooms or casinos tend to have tables ranging from £/$1 and £/$2 blinds to anything like £/$100 and £/$200 blinds. The reason behind the blind bets is to get the some money in the pot(all bets in the middle of the table) to get the bettingup and running before the cards are dealt to the players. Once every player has recieved their hand (2 hole cards) if they feel they want to stay in the current hand they then have to match the big blinds bet (call) or if they feel they have a strong hand or even that their opponent is weak they can raise the amount of the big blind (we will explain calling, raising ect shortly). All players at the table will take it in turns to be the dealer, small blind and big blind, at the start of a game all players will be dealt a card face up, the player with the highest card showing will be the dealer for the first hand. After each hand the dealer button and the blinds move one place to the left. Ok now the dealer will deal one card face down to each player at the table, starting to his left, which as we now know will be the small blind then once the dealer recieves his/her 1st dealt card he/she will then proceed to deal a second card face down to each player, these two cards are know as each players "hole Cards" the reason being is because only the player who has been dealt the two cards can see what they are meaning they are hidden,now all players must protect their hole cards otherwise it will ruin the game and give other players an edge in the betting.
Once every player has recieved their hole cards the dealer will put the rest of the pack to one side face down.This is called the Pre-Flop (will explain in a moment) Next is where the fun begins and the action starts, all play will now move from the big blinds left, the name used by many for the player lef of the big blind is "under the gun" (see pokerkribs dictionary) he will now decide if he wishes to call (this means matching the big blind bet), raise (raising the amount of the bet set by the big blind) or fold, folding simply means if you feel your hand is weak and do not wish to be involved in the hand this often known as passing your hand, pushing your two cards to the dealer face down, without letting anyone else see them, and god forbid do NOT mention what cards you just passed till after the hand is completed. Raising pre-flop-(pre-flop is know as the 1st round of betting) The best possible hand a player can be dealt pre-flop is A-A (ace-ace), although most pairs are considered very strong hands,in this case most players will choose to raise the big blinds bet, by raising all players in the hand must now match your bet to stay in the hand, the minimum rasie is usually twice the big blind, so if the big blind is set at 100 the raiser must stake at least 200, if you wish to raise more than the minimum you can go as far as putting all your chips in the pot, thats why this paticular game is called no limit hold'em. When you decide to raise you must say the word RAISE before you place your chips in front of you, in a round of betting your chips can not be thrown in the centre of the table where the pot lies, it must be put in front of you so the dealer can keep check on the amount of the raise. only when the round of betting is completed can the chips be gathered in to the pot. This is also done to stop cheats and hustlers throwing in a smaller amount of chips than what they have stated in their raise aswell as if a player has miscounted the raise by accident. The players now must decide to fold thier hole cards, to match the raise (which is called calling) or to even "re-raise" this is raising the original raiser. once everyone has matched the raise or folded can the chips form the pot for the 2nd round of betting to begin. If no player matches the raise then that player takes the pot, showing your hole cards once you win the pot in round 1 of betting is at your discression, most players will not show, so without having a good hand you can "bluff" making others think you have a better hand than you actually do. If no player has raised the big blind and just called or folded the big blind can "check" (this means he/she does not wish to raise) and of course they can raise the pot. If they check we now head to the "flop". The "Flop" and second round of betting.
The flop is where the community cards come in to play, there will be 5 community cards in total at the end of a poker hand, but the dealer produces 3 community cards to make up the flop face up in the middle of the table, the dealer must "burn" 1 card before the flop is produced, to "burn" is to take the top card of the deck and place it to one side face down, no player must see this card. We now head in to the 2nd round of betting, all players left in the hand must now combine their two hole cards with the flop and forms the best 5 card hand possible (3 community cards and 2 hole cards), the player neares left (clockwise) of the dealer still invoved in the hand must make the 1st move, he/she can check, as no bet has been made yet (a player can not check if a bet has been made in front of them, they must call, raise or fold) or they can bet. When checking you must say "check" or as most players do, just tap the table, most players tap twice. If a player decides to make a bet others may fold or some just call, if called around to the end of the round we now move to the "turn" this is where a 4th community card is placed face up by the dealer. The "Turn" and third round of betting.
The fourth card to be dealt by the dealer is the turn usually known as "fourth Street" once again before the dealer deals the turn they must burn the top card, the next card (turn) now gets placed face up next to the flop, the 3 community cards already on show. Then you have the third round of betting, which will play as previous rounds. Presuming at least two players are still in the hand after the turn we will move on to what is called "The River" or "fith Street" The "RIVER" and final round of betting.
The river or fith street, is the fith and final community card to be dealt face up next to the other 4 community cards on show, again before the river is dealt the dealer must burn the top card of the deck face down on top of the other burn cards from previous rounds of betting. The river is the most famous card in poker as it is the last card to be dealt it has created joy, tears, losses and dream endings. Once the top card has been burned and the river dealt we enter the final round of betting, so as in previous betting rounds all players left in the hand can check, bet, raise or fold. If one player bets and the other player(s) fold then the player who raised takes the pot without having to show his/her hole cards as in previous rounds. If all plyers check in the final round then all hole cards are turned face up (unless a player decides to "muck"* their hand) to see who has the best hand, to determine the besthand is where a player makes the best 5 card hand he/she can out of their 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards, only 5 cards canbe used. FOR HAND EXPLINATIONS AND RATINGS PLEASE VIST POKERKRIBS HAND RANKING PAGE. *MUCK* To muck a hand means you feel you are beat or can see your beat before facing ur hole cards up so you throw your hand in the middle without showing your cards. Although it is etiquette to show your hand if all players check NOW if we are left with a raise that has been called in the last round of betting we enter a "Showdown".
The remaining players are required to show their hole cards, after observing both hands the dealer will determine who holds the best hand. If both players are holding the same value winning hands then the pot becomes a "split pot" this means that the pot will be divided equally between the winning hands. In a showdown if a player bets and another calls the caller has actually paid to see the original betters hand, so in fact if you make a bet and you are called you should show your hand face up first before the caller, if the player who has called realises he/she are unable to better your hand they can just "muck" their hand, so in affect he is conceding his/her hand. The winning hand now proceeds to take the pot.or the caller will show his cards and reveal a better hand taking the pot himself. You can show your hole cards at a showdown even if you realise your beat by seeing the your opponents hole cards just to show you were calling the bet with a suitable hand, although most players will refrain from doing so. **THE RULES MAY SEEM VERY LONG AND CONFUSING BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU, YOU WILL SOON GET USED TO THEM AND REALISE HOW QUICK IT IS.** |
LIMIT HOLD'EM RULESPOT LIMIT HOLD'EM RULESOMAHA RULESHAND RANKINGSPOKER LANGUAGEBEGINNER PHASE 1INTERMEDIATE PHASE 1 |
