Poker Face

[XKnifeXBuu]

never look at a girls boobs when u play poker its bad luck.... i was soo distracted i fukin lost 5 g's while i was watching those nice round.... uhhh juicy BIG mutha fukas hahaha

[BlueDragon]

peice of advice get a life and personally get alife
but poker sucks even worse to watch

[XKnifeXBuu]

haha life huh i have a better life than u do.... soo never tell me to get a life considering the fact that i have one....

[powerbegg]

So you're new to Texas Hold'Em poker? Not a problem. Texas Hold 'Em poker is by far the best game for a beginner to learn. Instead of other poker games like Omaha High or 7 card stud which entail a great many more possibilities for calculating odds and perhaps even trying to count cards, Hold'Em can be learned in a few minutes by anyone, and you can be playing fairly well with a few hours practice. In order to learn the game, however, you must play and you must play fairly often.

One poker room, PacificPoker, offers a wide variety of play money tables for beginners to practice their skills until they're ready to move up to the fun at real money tables. We recommend this card room to new players, as this site is one of the fastest growing new cardrooms (and full of other new players!)

A Texas Hold em poker game goes as follows:

1. The betting structure can vary. Sometimes antes are used, but most games start with two players to the left of the dealer placing out a predetermined amount of money so there is an initial amount to get things started. This is called posting the blinds. Click here for more info on blinds and antes.

2. The dealer shuffles up a complete deck of 52 playing cards.

3. Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are called your hole or pocket cards.

4. Then there is a round of betting starting with the guy to the left of the two who posted the blinds. This round is usually referred to by the term pre-flop.

5. The amount betted depends on what kind of game it is. (Click here for more information about betting structures)

6. Much like most games of poker, players can check, raise, or fold.

7. After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to prevent cheating.

8. The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table. These cards are called the flop. These are communal cards that anyone can use in combination with their two pocket cards to form a poker hand.

9. There is another round of betting starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

10. After the betting concludes, the dealer burns another card and flips one more onto the table. This is called the turn card. Players can use this sixth card now to form a five card poker hand.

11. The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. In many types of games, this is where the bet size doubles.

12. Finally, the dealer burns a card and places a final card face up on the table. This is called the river. Players can now use any of the five cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form a five card poker hand.

13. There is one final round of betting starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

14. After that, all of the players remaining in the game begin to reveal their hands. This begins with the player to the left of the last player to call. It's called the showdown.

15. The player who shows the best hand wins! There are cases where players with equal hands share the winnings. Click here for more info on who wins and about split pots.

Once you understand this basic structure of the game, you can play holdem and even some of the many holdem variants out there. Holdem is an easy game to learn, just difficult to master. The "mastering" part is the costly part, especially in the traditional setting of a casino poker room. Thankfully, you can practice all you want for free with online poker rooms.

The only way to learn the game is to play. Check out PacificPoker to get a feel for the action. Play all you want for free, and start playing for real money as soon as you feel ready. They have both low limits for newer players as well as high stakes tables.

Want to learn more? Get a free book about Texas Hold'em Poker from PacificPoker.

Enjoy the games!

[powerbgg]

Texas Holdem Rules

Unfortunately, there is no universal set of rules for texas holdem poker. If you just want to know how the game works, check out our Beginner's Intro. Many individual rules are standard but a sea of nebulous calls still need to be made. In our opinion, the most reliable source for rules questions is and will always be the rules provided by the Tournament Directors Association. The TDA is a group that meets exclusively to expand and update the rules for poker. Here's a verbatim copy of what they presented to every player in the 2004 World Series of Poker:
World Series of Poker TDA Rules

Another wonderful source is Robert's Rules of Poker. Robert is actually Bob Ciaffone, a columnist for CardPlayer, and an all-around powerful games player. He has devoted his knowledge and expertise to create one of the most thorough sets of poker rules in existence. Mr. Ciaffone has our gratitude for this great tool and also for allowing it to be reproduced by others (like us!) for the betterment of poker.
Robert's Rules of Poker
Robert's Rules of Poker (Print-friendly version)

Of course, this list won't cover every possible scenario when it comes to holdem. The TDA and Robert's Rules are meant to cover a variety of poker games, from razz to stud. We here at TexasHoldem-Poker.com are attempting to create a rules set specifically for texas holdem. Here's what we've come up with so far:
TexasHoldem-Poker.com’s “Official” Texas Hold ‘Em Rules

If you have any suggestions for TH-P's "Official" rules collection, please contact adam @ texasholdem-poker.com (without the spaces...sorry, we're fighting net spiders) and Adam will be happy to discuss any additions, deletions, or corrections that you might believe would assist in this collective effort.

Also, if you came here to define a set of rules for your own holdem game, feel free to print out that page. We've got a print-friendly version right here. Please check over it and make your own revisions. A lot of the language in these rules include phrases like "may incur a penalty" or "at the discretion of the director". Make sure it is clear what actually happens in those scenarios BEFORE the game starts.