Texas Holdem Rules Poker Chips

The two players to the left of the dealer must post these compulsory “blinds” – so called because they are placed before anyone even sees their cards. The player on the dealer’s immediate left posts the “small blind” and the player one further seat round the table posts the “big blind”, which is usually twice the size of the small.

In the illustration, the dealer is in seat five with the button in front of him. The two seats to his left are “in the blinds”.

After every hand is complete, the dealer button moves clockwise one position around the table, which means that players take turns to be the dealer, the small blind and the big blind.

Texas Holdem is a Poker game in which players with fully or partially-concealed cards make wagers into a communal pot during the course of a hand, after which the pot is awarded to the player or players with the best combination of cards. While there is no official rule for how chip values are assigned, there are common standards used for most poker events. A complete basic set of poker chips used in private poker games or other gambling games is usually comprised of white, red, blue, green, and black chips. Larger, high-stakes tournaments may use chipsets with many more colors.

After the blinds have been posted, all players are dealt two cards face down. These are known as “hole” cards, and can only be seen and used by one player. By the end of the hand, five more “community” cards may have been dealt, face up in the middle of the table, which are available for all players to use.

The first three of the community cards are exposed together (known as the “flop”), then a fourth card (known as the “turn”) is dealt individually, and then a fifth (known as the “river”) is exposed. A betting round separates each deal.

The aim of poker is to make the best five-card hand out of the seven available – two in an individual’s hand and the five community cards.

The Four Betting Rounds

If a hand of poker is played all the way to its conclusion, there will be four betting rounds – or four periods during which players can commit their chips to the pot. A player can also “fold” their cards and leave the action at any time (see below).

A betting round must be concluded satisfactorily before the remaining players see more cards and another betting round begins.

Pre-Flop – The First Round of Betting

Texas Holdem Rules Poker Chips Doubledown Casino

The first betting round takes place before the first three community cards (the “flop”) are dealt. This action is described as “pre-flop” and at this stage players are wagering based solely on the strength of their two concealed “hole” cards.

Texas Holdem Poker Card Set

The player sitting to the left of the big blind acts first – a position known as “under the gun”. Players then act in turn, moving clockwise around the table.

You have the following options when it is your turn to act:

• Fold: This means that you no longer want to play the hand, and are throwing your cards away. You no longer have any claim to the money in the pot, even if you paid one of the blinds.
• Call: This means that you want to play the hand by matching the size of the current bet. Pre-flop, this will be at least the size of the big blind, and may be greater if any other player has raised.
• Raise: This means that you want to raise the size of the current bet. If nobody before you has made a raise, you can make a raise yourself.
• If you are sitting in the big blind and no else has raised before you, you have the option to check. This means that you do not wish to commit any more chips to the pot. You can only check pre-flop if you are in the big blind and no one else raised.

A freezeout tournament is a fancy name for a “regular” poker tournament. Most of the poker tournaments you play with friends or have seen on tv are actually freezeout (though most people don’t regularly refer to them as such). The setup of these tournaments is very straightforward. Players pay their entry fee and are given a fixed amount of tournament chips. When the player loses all of their chips, they are out of the tournament. The tournament will go on until one player has all of the chips and that player will be the crowned the winner of the tournament.

Freezeout tournaments typically pay a fixed percentage of players, usually in the 10% to 15% range, though this can vary at times.

Texas Holdem Poker Chips

Texas Holdem Rules Poker Chips Game

For example, let’s say you play in a freezeout with 90 total entrants. This tournament would typically pay out winnings to the top nine players. This means that if you get 10th place, you get $0. As you move up the positions of paid spots, you will progressively be paid more money. In our example, this simply means that 8th place will get more money than 9th place, 7th place will get more money than 8th Place, and so on, all the way to first place who gets the most money. Freezeout tournaments are the most common tournament that you will encounter. If you ever see a tournament listed without much of a description, you can most likely assume that it is a freezeout.