How to Play the Game
This is going to be a rough guide on how to play a hand using poker
☀️ rules, with an example listed below. A hand of No-Limit Texas Hold’em begins with each
player receiving two cards facedown, ☀️ called “hole cards.”
Players will always have
these options when it’s their turn to act: bet, call, raise or fold.
Players can ☀️ win a
hand by using any combination of their two-hole cards and five community cards on the
board to form ☀️ the best five card hand.
Remember, after players receive their cards, a
round of “preflop” betting occurs. Each “street,” or round ☀️ after that, has a different
name.
Flop – The first three community cards dealt are referred to as “the flop”. All
☀️ remaining players can use these community cards to try and make the best poker hand.
Play continues with a round ☀️ of betting. The action starts with the first player still
in the hand who is to the left of the ☀️ dealer button.
Turn – After completing the round
of betting on the flop, another community card is dealt, called the turn ☀️ (AKA Fourth
Street). A total of two hole cards and four community cards are available for active
players to try ☀️ and make the best five-card hand.
Another round of betting takes place.
Again, the action starts with the first remaining player ☀️ seated to the left of the
button. Play always continues in a clockwise direction. When all remaining players have
acted, ☀️ the betting round ends.
River – The river (AKA Fifth Street) is the fifth and
last community card. A final round ☀️ of betting takes place. If there’s a showdown – the
point where all action is complete – players turn up ☀️ their hands. The last player to
bet, known as the last aggressor, must show first. Whoever holds the best five-card
☀️ hand wins the pot, This action completes the hand, moving on to a new one.
Example: In
aR$1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em game, ☀️ you are first to act after the big blind (more on the
blinds below). You are facing aR$2 “blind” bet, ☀️ So, you can either call that amount,
raise it, or fold.
Let’s assume you raise toR$6 holding the A♦K♣. Everyone else ☀️ folds
around to the player in the big blind, who puts in the extraR$4 to call.
The flop comes
down A♣5♠6♥ ☀️ . The player in the big blind is first to act and can either check or bet.
There’s no need ☀️ for the to fold as there is no bet. They wind up checking, and you
betR$10 with your top pair.
The ☀️ player in the big blind calls and the K♦ turns. Again,
your opponent checks. You betR$25 with two pair. The ☀️ big blind calls once more and the
2♣ completes the board on the river.
Your opponent checks, for a third time, ☀️ and calls
when you betR$100.
The action is over, so it’s time to show your cards.
You turn over
your two pair ☀️ (your A♦K♣ plus the A♣K♦6♥ on the board make your best possible five-card
hand).
Your opponent shows he was beat as ☀️ he only had the A♥Q♠ for a losing pair of
aces. (Their A♥Q♠ plus A♣K♦6♥ from the board gives them ☀️ their best possible five-card
hand.)
Congratulations, you won a nice pot!
So that’s how a hand works, and you know
the poker ☀️ rules for it, where it gets complicated is how you play your own hand and
compete with others. There are ☀️ a few more things for you to pay attention to, like
where the dealer is sitting.
Dealer Button and Blinds
In most ☀️ games, a dedicated dealer
facilitates the dealing. In home poker games, it’s not uncommon for players to rotate
the deal ☀️ among themselves.
If there is a dedicated dealer, a button indicates who has
the deal. That button then moves one spot ☀️ clockwise after each hand. The purpose of the
button is to identify where the action should begin each time.
The action ☀️ always starts
with the first person left of the button.
Before any cards are dealt, the player to the
direct left ☀️ of the button must post (pay) the small blind. The player to the left of
him must post the big ☀️ blind.
These “blinds” are forced bets that help give players
something chase. Think about it: If there were no blinds in ☀️ poker, players would never
“blind off”. They would never lose chips from always folding preflop.
Players would
wait until they had ☀️ Aces dealt to them, and then go all-in.
For example, if the game
wasR$1-$2 No-Limit Hold’em, the player to the direct ☀️ left of the button must post aR$1
small blind. The player after that has to pay theR$2 big blind. These ☀️ are mandatory
“blind bets” and must be posted. If a player refuses according to poker rules, they
must sit out ☀️ of the game.
Tournaments vs Cash Games
When you play poker against other
players, you do so in one of two formats ☀️ – tournament or cash game (AKA ring game) and
these each have their own unique poker rules.
The basics outline above ☀️ are the same,
but there are four significant differences.
Blinds: In cash games, the blinds are
always fixed (i.e.R$1-$2,R$2-$5, etc.) and ☀️ never increase. While in tournaments, the
blinds increase every X-number of minutes, based on the blind structure. They do so ☀️ to
force action and ensure the tournament ends on time. Duration: Cash games are
convenient as you can come and ☀️ go as you please. Tournaments are different. Play
continues (according to the blind structure) until a winner is crowned. Chips: ☀️ In cash
games, each chip has a denomination that corresponds to its real-money In tournaments,
chip denominations typically do not ☀️ have real-money value. For example, in aR$100
buy-in tournament, you may receive 10,000 units worth of chips. Antes: Antes are ☀️ like
blinds in the sense that they are forced bets taken from players before the start of a
hand. They ☀️ are common in tournaments but do occasionally pop up in cash games. They do
not contribute to money used in ☀️ the first (preflop) round of betting, unlike the
blinds.
Antes are merely used to boost the size of the pot preflop. ☀️ They give players
more incentive to fight for the dead money in the middle.
Do note that either “button”
or “big ☀️ blind” antes (one larger-sized ante taken from one player) are replacing
traditional antes to save on time. This format is ☀️ happening especially in tournaments
to move the pace of the game along.
As the blinds rotate at the end of each ☀️ hand, all
players will be subject to a button ante, every orbit.
Variants of Poker
While Texas
Hold’em is the most popular ☀️ form of poker, it is far from the only game. There are
dozens of variations, with many catching up on ☀️ Hold’em’s popularity.
Here’s a look at
some of poker’s other variants:
