How to Play Poker
If you want to play poker – such as the popular Texas Hold’em game – online, you will need to understand the basics of the game in order to participate.
Dealing Cards
In Texas Hold’em each player is dealt two cards. A dealer chip or “button” marks the dealer position. Cards are dealt in a clockwise position starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Following the deal and subsequent card turns, the top card of the pack is “burned” (discarded to the bottom of the pack) to prevent cheating.
Rounds of Betting
There are five rounds of betting. The first bets placed are called the “blinds” these are posted before the cards are dealt. There are two levels of blind bets, the small blind and the big blind. The player to the left of the dealer will post the small blind and the player to the left of them will post the big blind. Blind bets count toward the players overall betting in the first round so the player posting the big blind may only need to add half the call amount if there is no raise prior to the flop.
The next round is called the opening or pre-flop and occurs after the players have seen their cards. This is followed by the flop, where players bet after the first three community cards are revealed. Next comes the turn betting, after the fourth “turn” card is shown and finally the river betting after the fifth and final community card, the river, is turned.
Check, Fold, Call, Raise
When betting, the player has four options. The player to the left of the dealer may decide not to bet and may “check” – subsequent players can then check until the bet is raised.
If the bet is raised then players after the raise must either call (match) the bet, raise again, or can decide to fold their hand.
Going All In
One option that players of Texas Hold’em have is to “go all in”. If a player does not have enough capital to call they may remain in the hand by declaring themselves “all in”, and betting their remaining chips. If they lost they will be out of the game, if they win they will take a portion of the pot according to how much they went all in with. A player can theoretically go all in at any stage, even with a large stack this is used as a way of intimidating opponents.