Poker - How to play?

Texas Hold em Poker rules

The Cadillac of poker, No Limit Texas Hold’em, is one of the worlds most popular poker variants. The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards with anywhere from 2 to 10 players.

There is always a white disc representing who the dealer in Texas Hold’em, and it moves 1 position to the left every hand. The player left of the dealer must pay a small blind and the player left of them will pay a big blind. These are forced bets that are made to ensure there are some chips to play for in every hand.

In Texas Hold’em every player gets dealt two cards face down that only they can see. After these are dealt it’s time for the first betting round, known as pre-flop betting. In this round the player left to the big blind must choose an action first, the options are call, raise or fold. Calling would mean equalling the amount of the highest bet at that point in the hand, which is the automatic bet of the big blind. A raise would be increasing the stakes, and a fold would be getting out of the hand. Clockwise, each player gets the same choice of call, raise or fold.

The betting round ends when either the hand is won by everyone deciding to fold except for the winner of the hand or when there are multiple players who have matched the highest bet.

The hand continues with three cards being placed in the middle of the table; this is called “the flop”. Each player can use these cards, in addition to their hole cards, to make a 5-card hand. Another betting round occurs between the players who are still active in the hand. The first player to the left from the dealer that is still in the hand is first to act and this player can either check or bet. A check means you the action onto the next player without any action and a bet would be adding additional chips in the pot. If a player bets, the remaining players have the option to call, raise or fold.

When all bets are matched, or if everyone checks, a 4th card is dealt which is called the turn. Another betting round occurs just like after the flop. When all bets are matched, or if everyone checks, a 5th and final card will be dealt, called the river. A final betting round takes place and if there are still multiple players left in the hand, we get a “showdown”. This is where all the players show their hole cards face up and the winner of the hand will receive the chips that are in the pot. In Texas Hold’em it is about the best five cards, for this you can use a combination of the 5 community cards on the table and the two cards in your hand. You can see the poker hand rankings below.

Pot Limit Omaha Rules Pot limit Omaha, or PLO for short, plays in a very similar way to No Limit Texas Hold’em and follows almost all the same rules. PLO hands start in the same way as Hold’em with a small blind and big blind, but players get 4 hole cards instead of 2. The betting rounds also work in the same way where players decide to call, raise or fold but, as the name suggest, in Pot limit Omaha the maximum you can bet at any point in the hand is the size of the pot. This is different from No Limit Texas Hold’em where you can bet all the chips you have at any point in the hand.

The 3rd and final difference between Hold’em and PLO is that players have to use 2 of their 4 hole cards when making their best 5-card hand. This is different from Hold’em where sometimes you only use 1, or even none of your hole cards when making your best 5-card hand.