Playing Poker Online

Web Sites To Play Poker

2009-12-15T23:55:00.006Z

There are various web sites that you can play Texas Hold’em Poker Online so lets have a look a some of them and what they offer you as an incentive to join their site.

bet365 Poker

Full Tilt Poker

Party Poker

Winning Hands In Texas Hold'em Poker

2009-12-11T18:28:00.013Z

Texas Hold'em Poker Hand Rankings

We will start of with the lowest possible hand in Texas Hold'em Poker and work our way up to the highest or best hand in Texas Hold'em Poker.

High Card - This can be any card in the deck from a Two to an Ace with Ace usually being the highest, so a five will beat a four, a king will beat an eight and so on.

Pair - A pair is any two cards of the same value and again the best pair will be a pair of Aces. When you are delt two Aces by the dealer they are known as "Pocket Rockets".

Two Pair - This could be two cards of the same value in your hand and two cards of the same value in the community cards, it could also be two different cards in your hand paired with the same value cards in the community cards.

Three Of A Kind - Three of a kind in Texas Hold'em Poker is just as it sounds, three cards of the same value and can be two from your hand and one community card or one from your hand and two from the community cards.

Straight - A Straight in Texas Hold'em Poker is a run of any five cards from Ace to King and can be a mix of suits, the higher the value of the cards the better the hand with Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five being the weekest and Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace being the strongest.

Flush - A Flush in Texas Hold'em Poker is any five cards of the same suit and they do not have to be in sequence.

Full House - A full house in Texas Hold'em Poker is Three Of A Kind with a Pair. If two players both have a full house then the player with the highest three of a kind wins.

Four Of A Kind - Four of a kind is just as it sounds, four cards of the same value with four Two's being the weakest and four Aces being the strongest.

Straight Flush - A straight flush in Texas Hold'em Poker is any five cards in a sequence from the same suit like Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine of Hearts and like a normal straight the higher the run the stronger the hand.

Royal Flush - A Royal Flush in Texas Hold'em Poker is the best hand you can get and is a run of cards of Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of the same suit.

Understanding Texas Holdem Poker Language

2009-12-11T13:16:00.016Z

Here is a list of some common texas hold'em poker terminology

All In - This is when a player commits all their chips to the pot.

Blind Bet - These are the bets that are placed at the start of the round and are compulsory bets by the two players that sit to the left of the dealer.

Board - These are the community cards or the five cards that are delt in the middle of the table.

Buy-in - This is the amount of money needed to play at a poker table.

Call - This is when a player matches the amount bet by another player.

Check - This is when you choose not to make a bet when nobody else has placed a bet before you.

Community Cards - This is the five cards delt in the middle of the table

Dealer - This is the person that has control of the cards, all the action starts from the person sitting to their left.

Dealer Button - This is a disc or hockey shaped puck that is placed next to the dealer to help you identify who is the current dealer.

Flop - This is the first three community cards that are delt after the first round of betting.

Fold - To fold your hand is to conceed the game.

Heads up - This is when only two players are left in the game.

Kicker Card - When two players have similar hands like a pair of eights with one eight being in their hand and one on the table then the second card in their hand or kicker card is used to determine who wins the hand.

Muck - This is also a term used to fold your hand.

Pot - This is the total amount of money that has been bet in the current game being played.

Raise - This is when you bet more than the highest bet placed so far.

Re-raise - This is when you raise the bet after a player has already raised the bet before you.

River Card - The river card is the is the fith and final card to be delt by the dealer.

Side Pot - When a player goes all-in a secondary pot is formed when there is more than one other player still betting on the hand.

Split Pot - this is when two or more players have the same hand and share the value of the pot.

Turn - This is the fourth card delt by the dealer to the community cards.

Texas Hold'em

2009-12-11T00:14:00.020Z

Texas Holdem Poker - Rules Of The Game

We have all watched it on the TV and is probably one of the most popular variants of poker played today but where do you start.

Let's start of by getting to know what Texas Hold'em is.

Texas Hold'em is a fast paced card game and the aim of the game is to make the best five card hand from the two card dealt to you and the five cards or community cards that are dealt to the entire table of players.

The Dealer

At the start of each hand in Texas Hold'em Poker a player gets the dealer button, the button moves clockwise at the end of each round of Texas Hold'em Poker and looks like a casino chip with Dealer written on it. The dealer deals the cards starting off with the player to his left and deals clockwise.

Blind Bets

Blind Bets in Texas Hold'em Poker are compulsory bets and are made by the players sitting to the dealers left. There are two blind bets in Texas Hold'em Poker, one small and one big and are used to get some money on the table and are placed before you see your cards, hence they are called "blind bets".

The big blind in Texas Hold'em Poker is usually double the size of the small blind and the amount of the blind bets are dictated by the stakes of the game.

Starting

After the blind bets have been posted by the first two players, small first then big, the dealer deals out the cards in a clockwise deal starting with the player to his left until everybody has two cards each facing down and not seen by any other player.

Betting (First Round)

Betting starts in Texas Hold'em Poker with the player sitting in the third seat from the dealer or the player next to the one who posted the big blind. As there are only the cards that have been dealt to each player on the table each player is making a bet based on what he could potentially create during the game.

You now have three choices, you could fold, raise or call. If you fold then you are throwing in your cards and your out without it costing you anything unless you have posted one of the blind bets. Calling will cost you the same amount as the highest bet that has been placed on the table at that time and raising is making a bet that is higher than any bet that has been placed on the table so far.

The betting in Texas Hold'em Poker goes round the table in a clockwise direction until all the players have either folded, raised or called. If, by the time the betting gets back to the player who placed the big blind, no-one has raised the betting then this player has three options, fold, raise or check, Checking is the term used when there is no bet to match and you want to stay in the game but don't want to place a bet.

If any of the players has raised the bet then the betting starts over as before with each of the players having the same options as at the start, fold, raise or call and continues until either all but one player folds or all the players that haven't folded have put an equal amount of money in to call.

The Flop

Now that the first round of betting is finished we get to the flop. The flop in Texas Hold'em Poker is when the dealer places 3 cards face up in the middle of the table at the same time.

Now we have five cards in play, the two in our hand and the three in the centre of the table. You will now be in a better position to judge how good a hand you could potentially create.

Betting (Second Round)

Now that there are five cards out betting starts again but this time there are no blind bets. The betting starts with the first player still in the game that hasn't folded sitting to the left of the dealer and because there have been no blind bets posted in this round the player can either fold, raise or check.

The betting goes round like that in the first round of betting but this time if nobody bets and everybody checks then the betting ends without the pot increasing.

The Turn Card

It's now time for the next card to be dealt and unlike the previous round only one card is dealt this time.

Now you have six cards to play with and the chance of making a better hand increases as there are more cards to use in your hand.

Betting (Third Round)

Betting in this round is the same as that in round two and again ends when either everybody has either checked, called or all but one player has folded.

The River

This is the final card in Texas Holdem Poker to be dealt in the game and now all the players still in the game decides what their best five cards are from the seven cards they have to choose from, the two in their hand and the five community cards face up on the table.

Betting (Final Round)

Betting in Texas Hold'em Poker in this round is the same as the previous two rounds of betting and at the end of the betting its time to see who has won the money. The winner is determined by the player who has the best hand and this is decided using the universal hand rankings. The player that was the last person to bet shows his hand first and then proceeds clockwise around the table.

You do not have to show your hand in Texas Hold'em Poker and can still choose to fold at this time rather than show your hand.

Now you know Texas Hold'em Rules