How to Play Texas Hold Em

The Texas Hold 'Em craze gets bigger all the time. Everywhere you look, there are television shows, web sites, and local events featuring Texas Hold 'Em. And nowadays, when someone talks poker they're usually talking Texas Hold 'Em. More and more people are getting into it, and Texas Hold 'Em only gets more popular all the time.

The trouble is, you have to know how to play Texas Hold 'Em before you can join everyone else who's already playing. But learning Texas Hold 'Em, or any poker game, isn't at all difficult. If you know how to play poker, or even if you know how to play Yahtzee, you can definitely play - and win - Texas Hold 'Em games.

In all games of poker, five cards are used to make up all winning hands despite the amount of cards you may be playing with in your hand (in Texas Hold 'Em, you'll be playing with seven cards, but only five will be used to make up your hand). The winning hands, in order, are as follows: High Card (the Ace is the highest card in the deck); One Pair (two cards of the same face value - two fours, two queens, etc.); Two Pair (two cards of the same face value and two other cards of different face value - two four and two queens, for instance); Three of a Kind (three cards of the same value - three fours, for instance); A Flush (five cards of the same suit); A Straight (five cards sequentially, two through six for example); A Full House (Three of a Kind and One Pair in the same hand); Four of a Kind (four cards of the same face value, such as four fours); A Straight Flush (next to impossible to get, this is five cards of the same suit in sequential order); and the best hand possible in poker, the Royal Flush (ace through ten, sequentially, all of the same suit - this hand cannot be beaten unless wild cards are being used - and wild cards are not used in Texas Hold 'Em tournament play).

Texas Hold 'Em is usually played with antes and "blinds." The blinds move around the table, following the Dealer chip. The blinds start out at a predetermined amount, as does the ante. There are always two blinds - small and big. The ante is always the same amount as the small blind. For example, you are playing a game of Texas Hold 'Em and the blinds will start at $25-$50. The person immediately following the dealer must not only provide their ante of $25, but put up the "blind" bet of $25 before any cards are dealt. The big blind must bet $50 before receiving any cards. These blinds move around the table, so everyone will have to post blinds at some point within any Texas Hold 'Em game. The minimum bet allowed is always the amount of the big blind.

Each player in a game of Texas Hold 'Em will be dealt two cards that no one else gets to see but the player to whom those cards were dealt. These are your "hole" cards or "pocket" cards. After these two cards are dealt to each player, there is a round of betting. Once all the bets are in, three more cards are dealt, face-up, in the middle of the table. This is called "the flop." These cards are for every player to use. There is another round of betting, and then a fourth card is dealt face-up. The fourth card is called "the turn" card. After another round of betting, a fifth and final card (called "the river") is dealt face-up on the table. Every player uses those five cards to make their hands, but they will also still have their hole cards in front of them. For example, the five cards face-up on the table are two aces, one king, a four and a five. The two cards dealt to you were an ace and a kind - using five of the seven available cards, you have a full house.

Once you understand the basics of Texas Hold 'Em, you can develop some poker skills. These skills will come to you the more you play.