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Learn Texas Holdem in 5 Minutes

The objective of Texas holdem is to win the sum of money bet by yourself and the other players in a hand. This is called the pot, and is earned either at the showdown by assembling the best five-card hand out of available seven cards, or by forcing your opponents out of the hand via your betting strategy. This act of departure is called folding.

A typical Texas holdem game is played using small and big blind (mandatory) bets. A dealer button represents the player in the dealer position, rotating clockwise after each hand. The player posts the small blind to the left of the dealer, and the player to the left of the small blind posts the big blind. Game play begins with each player getting two cards, face down. These are your hole, or pocket, cards and are the only cards you receive individually. You can only reveal them at the showdown, if you choose to, which qualifies holdem as a closed poker game.

The hand opens with a pre-flop betting round, until every player has folded, put in all of his chips or matched the amount put in by the other players. After the pre-flop betting round, the dealer lays out a flop, or three face up community cards, which are bet upon. After the flop betting round ends, a single community card called the turn is dealt and bet on, then a final single community card called the river is dealt, followed by a fourth betting round. If all but one player folds, he wins the pot and is not required to reveal the hole cards. If two or more players remain, a showdown takes place. Each opponent plays the strongest five-card hand than can be made from the seven cards comprising the two hole cards and the five community cards. You can use both of your two hole cards, only one or none at all, to create your final five-card poker hand. If yours is the strongest of the active hands, you win. From this base of knowledge, you can move on to more sophisticated elements of poker strategy, as time allows.

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