How to Play Texas Hold'em:

Texas Hold'em is the most popular community poker game and probably is the most popular card game in the world. Despite the fact that Texas Hold'em is the game most frequently played by professionals, its rules are very simple and if you know poker hands ranking and standard poker betting scheme, you can learn the game in 10 minutes or so.

One special thing about Texas Hold'em is the blind bets that usually are used in most games. Blind bets are forced bets that players must place without even seeing their cards. Unlike antes, blind bets are not placed by all players, but, in the case of Texas Hold'em by two first players to the left of the dealer. The first player places the small blind (normally about half the minimum table limit) and the second player places the big blind (two times larger tan the small one). These two blinds are treated as if they were a bet and a raise in a standard betting round. The player who places the big blind, however, is given a privilege: he can re-raise his own bet (the blind) even if nobody at the table has raised it in the first round.

However, Texas Holdem can also be played with antes like standard poker games. This is particularly common for tournament games.

When the blinds (or the antes) are placed the game proceeds as follows:

• Players are dealt two face-down cards (aka hole or pocket cards).
• The third player to the left of the dealer starts the first betting round (two first players has already placed blind bets). The betting round proceeds as usual in the clockwise direction.
• Three cards are dealt face-up in the center of the table (these and the cards dealt further in the game are called community cards). This stage is called The Flop on Texas Holdem jargon.
• The second betting round takes place (this and further betting rounds start with the player to the left of the dealer).
• Another community card is dealt face-up (this stage is called The River).
• The third betting round occurs.
• The fifth community card is dealt face-up (the Turn)
• The final betting round.
• The showdown.

The objective of the game is to combine the best five-card hand out of five community cards and two hole cards dealt to every player.