Texas Holdem – you may have heard of it, and you certainly would have seen it played if you have been watching the big World Series Poker Event games on t.v.

No limit Texas Holdem is the most popular poker game online Texas Holdem can be confusing for first time poker players and, we recommend that you get some ‘free’ time in on the tables and start learning.

Invest your time in learning all about the poker game before you start playing for real. We all learn by our mistakes and the best way to learn is to play the game and take advantage of the FREE ONLINE POKER ROOMS that the casino‘s have on offer.

Ok LETS START

I think before we go into the more exotic and many versions of poker games ,and there are many variations to choose from, let us show you the BASIC Poker skills that you need to grasp.
We will tell you a little more about Texas Holdem later on.

Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards (except for Ross Perot Poker, which is played with less than a full deck).

The cards are ranked from high to low in the following order: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Aces are ALWAYS high.

Aces are worth more than Kings which are worth more than Queens which are worth more than Jack, and so on. The cards are also separated into four suits. The suits are

Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards (except for Ross Perot Poker, which is played with less than a full deck). The cards are ranked from high to low in the following order: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Aces are ALWAYS high. Aces are worth more than Kings which are worth more than Queens which are worth more than Jack, and so on. The cards are also separated into 4 suits which are Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds.
Each player is dealt five cards. The object of the game is to end up with the highest-valued hand. From best to worst, hands are ranked in the following order:
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
One Pair
High Card
Royal Flush
This is the most valuable hand in all of poker. A Royal Flush is composed of 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, all of the same suit. It’s the toughest hand to get.
Examples:
HAND 1:10 J Q K A HAND 2:10 J Q K A
Straight Flush
A Straight Flush is comprised of five cards in numerical order, all of the same suit. It’s not allowed to “wrap around,” such as Q-K-A-2-3. This is also very rare. If you get two of these in a row, you are cheating. If there are two Straight Flushes at the table, then whichever hand’s Straight Flush reaches the highest card value wins. So in the examples below, Hand 2 (which has a King) would beat Hand 1 (which only goes up to 8).
Examples:
HAND 1:4 5 6 7 8 HAND 2:9 10 J Q K
Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same numerical rank and another random card. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the highest-ranking Four of a Kind wins. In the examples below, Hand 2 would beat Hand 1.
Examples:
HAND 1:6 6 6 6 J HAND 2:Q Q Q Q 3
Full House
Of the five cards in your hand, three have the same numerical rank, and the two remaining card also have the same numerical rank. Ties are broken first by the Three of a Kind, then the Pair. So K-K-K-3-3 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, which beats Q-Q-Q-7-7.
Examples:
HAND 1:J J J 4 4 HAND 2:5 5 5 A A
Flush
A Flush is comprised of five cards of the same suit, regardless of their numerical rank. In a tie, whoever has the highest ranking card wins. In the example below, Hand 1 (with a King) beats Hand 2 (with a Queen).
Examples:
HAND 1:2 4 7 J K HAND 2:5 6 7 8 Q
Straight
Five cards in numerical order, regardless of their suits. Just like with the Straight Flush, a Straight cannot “wrap around.” In a tie, whoever’s Straight goes to a higher ranking card wins (so in the examples below, Hand 1 beats Hand 2).
Examples:
HAND 1:7 8 9 10 J HAND 2:3 4 5 6 7
Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same numerical rank, and two random cards that are not a pair.
Examples:
HAND 1:10 10 10 3 Q HAND 2:2 2 2 8 9
Two Pair
Two sets of pairs, and another random card.
Examples:
HAND 1:7 7 J J 5 HAND 2:Q Q K K A

One Pair
One pair and three random cards. If more than one person has a One Pair, then the person with the highest ranking pair wins.
Examples:
HAND 1:8 8 5 K 3 HAND 2:2 2 3 4 5

High Card
If none of the players have anything of value, the player holding the highest-valued card wins, with the 2 as the lowest card, and the Ace as the highest. In the case of a tie, you move to the next highest card, and continue.
Examples:
HAND 1:2 4 5 10 Q HAND 2:2 8 9 10
Ok is that as clear as mud, well read it again and digest, it really is simple to grasp the basic rules and made easier with those Free trials we keep on about.
Right now to play the game. Ready to play right decide on a betting limit which will stop you from selling the family dog. Here we go the ABC we hope of basic poker.
a/ Place your bet an ante or ‘token bet’ into the pot before the dealer deals the cards. The ante can be anything from a $1 upwards. You need the ante because that will always guarantee that someone is going to win something.
b/ Ok you have put your money where your mouth is so the dealer now deals the cards, face down around the table, starting at the player to his left and continuing clockwise. The dealer deals to himself last (if he is playing that is).
c/ The dealer deals everyone at the table their first card, then goes around again until he has distributed 5 cards to everyone. The cards that are left are then placed in the middle of the table.
d/ Play starts – keep your cards away from prying eyes when you look at them, ad quickly put them face down when u have seen them, this will stop people from seeing your cards and therefore gaining an advantage.
e/ The first player then places a bet. If you have never played before maybe you should let someone else open up the betting, so better off letting the player directly to the left of the dealer to place the first bet, then the next hand the player to his left will bet first and so on around the table for each new hand.
f/ OPEN so if you choose you can oen the betting and is your choice any amount up to the betting limit.
g/ CHECK ok so when a player checks it means that they do not want to open the betting, but it doesnt mean they are pulling out. So we will assume that someone other than you has opened the better – what do you do now?
h/ SEE well this could be one of your choices, to ‘see’ another player that acually means that you match their bet. So for example if someone bets say $5 and you want to stay in the game you will have to ‘see’ their $5 by putting $5 of your own money into the pot.
i/ RAISE is eaxctly what it implies, and you need to frst ‘see’ the previous bet and then increase the bet. So if the previous person bet $2 and you want ot bet more than that you would say “I see (match your $2) and raise you (which means you are increasing the bet) you can increase by any amount depending on how lucky you are feeling. This does not mean you are going to win, always remember that, gamblers are cunning people and could be ‘bluffing’ you.
j/ FOLD this is to simply give up your hand by placing your cards face down on the table. Whatever you have bet so far in the game is lost but you obviously believe that you cannot win and your hand is weak ,so it would be cheaper to get out now and simply ‘fold’.
At this point of the game the players left in are allowed to discard up to 3 unwanted cards and receive 3 new ones in place. You must have at all times 5 cards total. The discarded cards are not seen by the players nor the new cards you receive.
So the betting begins you have the option of opening or checking and then you can see, raise or fold. The game continues until all options are done with and you have either folded, raised or ‘see’ the other persons card to establish a winner. The person with the highest hand wins.
NOW YOU CAN PLAY POKER after a sorts and are excited to get going on Texas Hold’em, which you have been watching on t.v. and all your friends are urging you to play. Ok so what is the difference, how do you play Texas Hold’em, here we will give you the basics on this popular game. As before your best way is to play it online in a free poker room where you can make as many errors that you want and, it wont cost you a thng whilst you are learning.
There are many casinos that will offer No limit Texas Hold’em which is the most exciting form of poker, favoured by all the serious high rollers and many of hollywoods famous actors and tv. stars making it one of the most glamorous casino card games… Lets just check out the main rules for Texas Hold’em, as we have said beforehand the basic rules apply to Texas Hold’em but this is a game that moves very fast and is extremely exciting.
The chief difference is in the way the cards are dealt. In “regular” poker, or draw poker to give it its proper name, each player is dealt 5 cards which are unique to him and him alone… he may then trade any number of these cards for new ones from the deck to try and improve his hand. In Texas Hold’Em poker, each player is dealt only 2 cards to begin the hand… then there are up to 5 “community cards” dealt face up on the centre of the table which EVERY player may use to form their hand, so players form the best 5 card hand possible from the 5 community cards and the 2 cards they are dealt at the start which are unique to them and them alone.
Acting last in Texas Hold’em poker is seen as an advantage? The player in the last position has much more information available to them, allowing them to make a more informed bet when their turn arrives. For exactly the same reasons, being forced to act first in a Texas holdem poker game is a disadvantage – that player has no idea how the others at the table will bet. Players acting in the middle are somewhere in-between on the advantage/disadvantage scale, but in general the later you act in a Texas holdem poker game, the better your position.
“All-In”: When a player runs out of chips during the course of a hand, he/she does not have to fold. Instead the player can choose to be All-in. When you are all-in, you call all your chips and the pot is divided into the main pot and side pot. All subsequent chips are hereafter added to the side pot. At the showdown if the “All-in” player does not have a winning hand, both the side pot and the main pot go to the winning hand, as usual. At the showdown if the “All-in” player has a winning hand, the main pot goes to the “All-in” player, and the side pot goes to the next best hand. When several players go All-in, multiple side pots are created. The pots are divided according to hand and order in which the players went All-in. If a player not all in at the showdown has the winning hand he wins all side pots and the main pot. If an all in player has the strongest hand he/she wins the pot or pots that were collected until he/she went All-in. Any all in player with a winning hand can only win the pot or pots they are involved in.
A Betting round continues until all players have folded or called the third raise, or until a bet has been called by all players (except the one who placed the bet) with no raise taking place.

One of the most confusing concepts to some players who want to learn to play Texas Hold ‘Em poker is blind bets. These are bets that are placed in the pot before cards are dealt. When playing, the two players on the button’s immediate left post these “blind” bets. These are bets that are placed in the pot before those players see their cards. Typically, the player in the very first position posts a blind bet that is half the amount bet by the player in the second position, although in some games, the first bet (called the small blind) may be as little as one-third or as much as two-thirds the size of the second bet (called the big blind).
After the blinds are placed, participants in the Texas Hold’em game are dealt two cards face down. These cards belong exclusively to their “owners,” and are not seen by the other players at any time until the showdown that occurs at the end of the hand. A round of betting takes place before the first three community cards are dealt in the flop. This is commonly called “before the flop” or “pre-flop” betting.
Texas Holdem Poker: Pre-Flop Betting
After the blinds are placed, participants in the Texas Hold’em game are dealt two cards face down. These cards belong exclusively to their “owners,” and are not seen by the other players at any time until the showdown that occurs at the end of the hand. A round of betting takes place before the first three community cards are dealt in the flop. This is commonly called “before the flop” or “pre-flop” betting.

In the pre-flop betting round, the player in third position has only three choices. Because a blind wager has already been made, the player can do any of the following:
Fold. If the third player folds, he is out of the hand and cannot participate again until the next deal of the cards (when, because of the way the button moves around the board, he will be the big blind)
Call, by matching the size of the big blind; or
Raise. How much the player can raise depends on whether the game is limit, pot-limit, or no-limit. For ease of discussion, we will assume the game played in our sample hand is Limit Texas Hold’em poker, with $5 and $10 blinds, which means it is a “10-20 game”.
If this player calls, he places $10 in the pot. If he raises, he places $20 in the pot.
The betting continues clockwise around the table, with each player in turn having the option to fold, call or raise. If the third (or another) player has raised, the player who acts after the raiser must now decide whether he wishes to call $20, or raise to $30. You should note that there is a limit on the number of raises per round. In some brick and mortar casinos, the limit is three raises while in others, it’s four raises. At UltimateBet, we use the 4-raise rule.
In this example, the third Texas Holdem poker player does raise to $20, and everyone else folds until the player at the button position, who calls this bet for $20. After the button player calls, the player in the small blind must decide if they are going to call for $15, or raise to $25 (note that the player in the small blind already had $5 in the pot, making the amount of his raise smaller). If the player in the small blind position calls, the big blind must decide if he is going to call for $10 or raise another $10. If no one had raised, the player in the big blind would have an opportunity to raise. This is called the option, and it’s available to the big blind because he was forced to bet his original $10 without having looked at his cards.
Texas Holdem Poker: The Flop
With the pre-flop betting complete, the dealer (or, in this case, UltimateBet) now deals out three cards face-up. In Texas Hold’em poker games, these “community” cards belong to everyone and the first three cards dealt are called the flop.

Here’s an example of how community cards work in poker, Texas Holdem style: if the two cards you were dealt at the beginning of the hand are a Queen and a Jack and the flop comes Q-5-4, you would have a pair of Queens with a Jack “kicker” (secondary card). In Texas Hold’em this isn’t a bad position, unless someone else has a hand like King-Queen, in which case you both have a pair of Queens, but you are losing, because the other player has a better kicker.
After the flop occurs in a Texas Holdem poker game, a second round of betting follows. In this round, the player closest to the left of the button (who is still in the hand) acts first. However, unlike the first betting round where the options were call, raise or fold, players have the following two options:
Check, which means to decline to wager now but to retain the option to call or raise bets made by other players; or
Bet, in this case, because of the game’s 10/20 structure, $10.
Why is there a difference between the first and second betting rounds in Texas Hold ‘em Poker? In the first round, the blinds were placed in the pot to give the players a reason to play. If there were no blinds in Texas Holdem poker, there would be very little incentive for a player to enter a hand without the absolute best possible cards because there would be nothing to win. As the first player in, the big blind would be risking their $10 bet to win nothing. If you were in the big blind position, the only way you could win something would be if someone after you decided to call or raise your bet, and one would assume that the player after you, knowing that you had a strong hand (because you were the first to bet) would only raise or call if they also had a strong hand.
The blinds thus give players something to shoot at, a reason to play with something less than the best hand. But once we reach the flop, there is already money in the pot, so there is no longer a need for blinds, and the first player can choose to bet $10, or to check.
In fact, it’s possible that all players still in the hand will check in the second round of betting, meaning that pot does not increase on the flop. But if someone bets, players must decide whether they are going to call or raise, with the same 4-raise limit applying.
Texas Holdem Poker: The Turn and The River
After the third round of betting concludes, the dealer reveals a fourth community card, which, in Texas Hold’em, is called the Turn or Fourth Street. In limit Texas Hold’em poker games, the size of the betting amount now doubles, to $20. This is why this game is called a “10-20″ game. The greater bet size aside, the process of betting and checking is identical to that of the flop’s betting round.

After this third round of betting concludes, the dealer reveals the fifth and final community card. This card is called the River or Fifth Street. Again, the betting in this round is identical to the pattern used on the third (Turn) round.

At the end of this fourth round of betting, any players still remaining in the hand must turn their cards over. (If at any point during the hand, one player makes a bet that all others decline to call, they must fold and the hand is over immediately, and the player who made the final wager takes the pot without the need to show his cards.)
In Texas Hold’em, the player who can assemble the best five-card hand, out of the seven possible (the two in their hands and the five in the middle) wins the pot. The players can thus use both of their private cards, just one, or neither of them. Although it is unusual to use none of one’s private cards, it is possible, if the five cards on the board form a strong hand such as a straight, flush, or full house.
If, for example, two players remained in the Texas Hold’em hand at the end, one of whose private cards were two kings (K-K), and one of whose private cards were two aces (A-A), and the board was 5-6-7-8-9, the players would split the pot, because each has exactly the same nine-high straight. Before the river card, the player with the two aces had a very large advantage, but the concluding nine cost him half the pot (as would have a concluding Four, which also would have put a straight on the board).
Wikipedia usually has helpful articles.
No Limit Texas Hold'em takes the action to another level by removing any limitations on the size of the bet. This makes for a fast-moving, potentially aggressive game with a lot of extra drama. Once you've familiarized yourself with the poker rules and the specific Texas Holdem rules, take some time with the free Texas Hold em games and see for yourself the drastic change that playing No Limit Texas Holdem makes.

So you will see that the chief difference is the way the cards are dealt in ‘regular’ poker or draw poker, each player is dealt with 5 cards whereas with Texas Hold’em each player is dealt only 2 cards to begin the hand….then as seen above there are up to 5 community cards dealt face up in the centre of the table which EVERY PLAYER may use to form their HAND thus the player with the best 5 card hand wins.
If you get stuck into heaps of research on the Poker you will find enough tips and material to keep you reading for years, your best chance of getting your head around it is to ‘play’ it, so go download a free game and get started.
Find all your references to help you keep up with the terms of play, dont jump into betting your real hard earned cash until you can afford to lose some, as there is no doubt you will lose but on the other hand you could do very well and have a lot of fun doing it. Play safe and sensible, never bet what you cant afford to lose and be happy with small wins.

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