Texas Hold Em Cards

Posted on 4/1/202222.08.2017by admin

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Texas Holdem Cards
Texas Holdem Cards To Bet On
Texas Holdem Card Shuffler
Texas Hold Em Card Hands
Texas Hold Em Card Order

Starting with the player clockwise from the dealer button, all players in Texas Hold’em are dealt two hole cards, one at a time, in a clockwise fashion. You are allowed to look at your hole cards (in fact you should — unless your psychic powers are way, way up there, it would be hard to know exactly what kind of hand you had if you didn’t). In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win. In low games, like razz, the lowest-ranking hands win. In high-low split games, both the highest-ranking and lowest-ranking hands win, though different rules are used to rank the high and low hands.

Pineapple - Crazy Pineapple - Crazy Pineapple Hi-Lo

Introduction

Texas Hold'em is a shared card poker game. Each player is dealt two private cards and there are five face up shared (or 'community') cards on the table that can be used by anyone. In the showdown the winner is the player who can make the best five-card poker hand from the seven cards available.

Since the 1990's, Texas Hold'em has become one of the most popular poker games worldwide. Its spread has been helped firstly by a number of well publicised televised tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and secondly by its success as an online game. For many people nowadays, poker has become synonymous with Texas Hold'em.

This page assumes some familiarity with the general rules and terminology of poker. See the poker rules page for an introduction to these, and the poker betting and poker hand ranking pages for further details.

Texas Holdem Cards

Players and Cards

From two to ten players can take part. In theory more could play, but the game would become unwieldy.

A standard international 52-card pack is used.

The Deal and Betting

Texas Hold'em is usually played with no ante, but with blinds. When there are more than two players, the player to dealer's left places a small blind, and the next player to the left a big blind. The big blind is equal to the minimum bet and the small blind is typically half that amount. When there are only two players (a 'heads-up' game), the dealer places the small blind and the non-dealer the big blind.

The cards are shuffled and cut, the dealer 'burns' one card and then deals the cards one at a time face down until each player has two cards. These are known as the player's hole cards or pocket cards. Players may look at their two hole cards and must not show them to any other player.

The first betting round is begun by the player to the left of the big blind. The blinds count as bets, so the small blind need only pay the difference between the blinds to call. The big blind player acts last and is allowed to raise, even if the other active players have all called.

After the first betting round the dealer burns one card and deals three cards face up to the table. These three cards are known as the flop. There is then a second betting round begun by the first active player to the left of the dealer seat.

When the second betting round is complete, the dealer burns a card and then deals one card face up to the table. This card is known as the turn or fourth street. There is then a third betting round, again begun by the first active player to the left of the dealer seat.

After the third betting round the dealer burns another card and deals one more card face up - the river or fifth street. There is fourth and final round of betting before the showdown, again begun by the first active player to the left of the dealer seat.

In a fixed-limit or spread-limit game, any betting round that has more than two active players at the start is normally limited to one bet plus three (sometimes four) raises. In the first (pre-flop) betting round the big blind counts for this purpose as the first bet. If a betting round begins with only two active players, there is no limit on the number of raises.

In limit poker, the betting limits are usually doubled before the third betting round. So for example a $10-$20 game would typically have blinds of $5 and $10, bets of $10 in the first two rounds and bets of $20 in the last two.

The Showdown

Active players show their hands in clockwise order, beginning with the player who was the last to bet or raise in the final betting round. If everyone checked in the final betting round, the first active player to the left of the dealer seat is the first to show. See the betting and showdown page for further details.

Each player makes the best possible five-card poker hand from the seven available cards: the player's two hole cards and the five face-up table cards, which are known as the board. This can be in any combination: both hole cards with three from the board, one hole card with four from the board, or just the board cards without using the hole cards at all, which is known as playing the board.

Note that:

For a hand to be considered for winning the pot, the player must show both hole cards, even if only one or neither of them is used to make the best hand.
The cards speak for themselves: the best hand is entitled to win the pot if shown, even if the owner does not realise that it is the best hand.
As always, poker hands consist of just five cards. The two unused cards have no bearing on whether one hand is better than another.

Example. On the board is A-Q-Q-9-6. Player A has K-9; player B has 9-6; player C has 9-3. This is a three-way tie, since all three players have Q-Q-9-9-A as their best hand. The pot is split equally between A, B and C.

Strategy

Because of its great popularity as a tournament and online game, much has been written about the strategy of Texas Hold'em.

The Poker Strategy page provides a list of sites with useful Texas Hold'em Strategy articles.

The Poker Books page reviews a couple of good books about how to play Texas Hold'em.

Variations

The game described above is Texas Hold'em as played formally in public card rooms. When it is played at home, the same procedure can be used, but in some informal games the burning of cards is omitted, and the five community cards are dealt face down to the table at the start. Three of these cards are turned face up after the first betting round, one after the second and one after the third. The result is similar to the formal game, but there is an increased risk that a player might, by accident or by cheating, learn the identity of some of the table cards before they are officially exposed.

The practice of dealing the community cards to the table at the start and turning them face up later is commonly found in community card poker games with more complex layouts, such as Iron Cross and Tic-Tac-Toe. Several of these are listed on the Poker Variants page.

Pineapple

This is played the same way as Texas Hold'em, except that each player is initially dealt three hole cards and must discard one of them before the first round of betting.

Crazy Pineapple

As in Pineapple, each player is dealt three cards, but in Crazy Pineapple they are kept until after the second betting round. Each active player must discard one card immediately before the fourth board card (the turn) is dealt.

Crazy Pineapple Hi-Lo 8 or Better

Crazy Pineapple is often played in such a way that the pot is shared between the players with the highest and lowest hands. The deal and betting are exactly as in Crazy Pineapple. At the showdown, as well as making their best hand, each active player makes the lowest possible hand from their seven cards. When making a low hand, the five cards must all be of different ranks, the aces count as low, straights and flushes do not count, and no card can be higher than an 8. So the best low hand is A-2-3-4-5 and the worst is 8-7-6-5-4. Cards are compared from the top down, so 7-5-4-3-2 is better than 7-6-3-2-A because the 5 is lower than the 6. Players can use a different selection of cards for their high hand and their low hand.

The pot is split equally between the highest hand and the lowest hand. If none of the active players qualifies for low (which will automatically be the case if there are three cards higher than 8 on the board), then the player with the highest hand wins the whole pot.

Irish

This Texas Hold'em variant is similar to Crazy Pineapple, but each player is initially dealt four hole cards. These can all be kept until the end of the second round of betting. Before the fourth board card (the turn) is dealt, each active player must discard two of their hole cards, keeping just two for the turn and river.

Occasionally, someone will ask me if Poker and Texas Hold’em are the same thing. I’ve been a professional poker player for years and am happy to explain the differences between various card games.

What is the difference between Poker and Texas Hold’em? Poker and Texas Hold’em are not the same thing. Texas Hold’em is a community card game, one of the thre variations of poker. Other variants include Stud and Draw Poker. All poker games are played by two or more players who compete to try and make the best hand by using a defined hand ranking system.

Now that you know how Texas Hold’em is just one of many poker games, let’s discuss a few of its variations. Think of this as a crash course on everything poker.

The Variations of Poker

There are three main types of poker variants:

Community Card Games
Draw Poker Games
Stud Poker Games

While growing up, I learned to play draw and stud poker. In fact, anyone over the age of 40 probably did so as well. However, community card games are by far the most popular poker games today.

While there are key differences between each poker variation, there are also numerous commonalities.

Texas Holdem Cards To Bet On

What All Poker Games Have in Common

Each game within a variant will almost always have the same basic rules. All poker variations have:

An “Ante” (Pronounced An-Tee) which is the minimum amount of money that each player much wager to play in the game. These are forced bets before the game begins. In some games, every player pays the same ante while in other games only a set number of players pay the ante or “blind.”
Betting rounds where players can bet, check, call, or raise.
The same hand ranking system including high card, pairs, two-pairs, trips, straights, flushes, full-houses, four-of-a-kind, straight flushes, and the extremely rare royal flush.
Competition with at least two players being needed to play. There is no solo poker.

While the hand rankings tend to be the same, the way the game plays can vary wildly from one variant to another. Here are the three common variations with examples of popular games.

1. Community Card Poker Games

In a community card poker game, every player is dealt a defined number of “hole” cards that belong them alone. Each player then matches their hole cards with the “community cards” in order to make a 5-card poker hand.

Common Community Card Poker Games

Texas Hold’em – Each player is dealt two hole cards and then there is a “pre-flop” betting round following a defined order of play. Three community cards, called the “flop, are then dealt and there is a 2nd betting round. After the flop, comes the turn where a single community card is dealt followed by the third betting round. Finally, the last community card called the “river” is dealt and the fourth and final betting round occurs. If action is closed on the river, then the players with hole cards still in play “showdown” their hands in a defined order and determine the winner.
Omaha – Omaha plays exactly like Hold’em except that each player receives 4 hole cards and exactly two of those hole cards must be used to determine his or her best 5-card hand. For example, if there are 4 Hearts on the board, a player must still have two hearts in their hand in order to make a flush.
Pineapple – Pineapple is a game with many variations. Each player is dealt three hole cards, one of which can be discarded at a particular point in the hand, depending on the variation. Most commonly, the discard happens pre-flop. No matter on what street the discard occurs, the hand otherwise plays just like Texas Hold’em.
Courchevel – This game plays just like Omaha except that each player gets five hole cards and one of the flop cards is dealt before the first betting round occurs.

2. Draw Poker Games

Texas Holdem Card Shuffler

In draw poker games the players do not share any cards but are rather are dealt a complete hand before the first betting round. Typically, each player is allowed to trade in and “draw” between one and four cards new cards from the deck. There is now another betting round based on the new hands and showdown occurs.

Texas Hold Em Card Hands

Common Draw Poker Games

Five-Card Draw – In five-card draw, each player is dealt five cards. Typically, each player can trade is between one and three cards after the initial betting round. However, some local rules allow for four cards to be traded if the player has an Ace.
Seven-Card Draw – Plays exactly like five-card draw, except each player is dealt seven cards at the start of the game.
Double-Draw – Double-Draw plays exactly like regular draw poker there are two draw phases instead of just one, which adds an extra betting round to the game. There is also triple-draw poker as well.

3. Stud Poker Games

In stud poker games, the players are dealt a set number of cards. Only the cards initially dealt can be used to play the game. There are no community cards and no cards are drawn. Typically, each player is dealt a set number of down cards and then a defined number of face-up cards. Usually, the last card dealt is again face down.

Common Stud Poker Games

Seven-Card Stud – Seven-card Stud was the most popular game in the world before Texas Hold’em took that title in the early part of the 21st century. At the start of the game, each player is dealt two cards face down and one card up. After the initial deal, the first betting round occurs. There is then one betting round after each additional card is dealt face up. The final card is dealt face down. There are five betting rounds possible with each player ending up with three cards down and four face-up.
Razz – Commonly known as “seven card stud low”, Razz is a game where you try to make the lowest hand possible in poker. The wheel is the most powerful hand in Razz followed be 6, 4, 3, 2, A and 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, so on and so forth. Except for the different hand ranking criteria, Razz plays exactly like seven-card-stud.
Five-Card Stud – This game was most popular in the 18th century and involves each player is dealt one card down and one card face up. The player with the lowest card must pay a “bring in” bet in order to continue in the game. Then, there is a betting round. The player with the best hand showing always goes first. In total, there are four face-up cards with a betting round after the cards are dealt.
Mississippi Stud – Mississippi stud plays exactly like seven-card stud except that there is no betting round between fourth and fifth streets. Also, the final card is dealt up. This game has the same feel as Texas Hold’em except there are no community cards.

Final Thoughts

So now you know that Texas Hold’em and poker are not the same thing and that Hold’em is just one game in a multitude of poker games. If you are interesting in learning Texas Hold’em strategy, be sure to check out my comprehensive tutorial.