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Texas Hold'Em

This is the most popular and most exciting form of Poker played in the world today. A fast paced 7 card game, players have to make the best five card hand that they can using the two cards that they are dealt and the five community cards on the table. The game consists of up to ten players in addition to the virtual dealer, who does not participate in the game in any way other than dealing the cards.

At the start of each hand, the dealer button is placed in front of one of the players. This disk indicates the theoretical dealer of each hand and marks the individual who will act last in each of the betting rounds. As a new player you should note the position of the dealer, as the two players on either side are responsible for placing the blinds. Every player on the table will be required to act as a dealer during the game, with the dealer button moving clockwise after every hand.

In order to start the game, the player to the left of the dealer posts a forced bet, known as a small blind and the player to their left posts a big blind. Blinds are the money that is placed in the pot in order to start the betting and to create an incentive to play in the hand. Blinds also mean that the winner of the hand will always win something. Blinds are determined by the number of players but the general rule of thumb is that the small blind is half the minimum bet and the big blind is the same as the minimum bet. In Limit Hold’Em, the big blind is equal to the size of the small betting limit (i.e. in a R30/R60 Limit Hold’em game, the big blind would be R60). The small blind is generally half of the big blind.

Action begins with the player to the left of the Big Blind and continues in a clockwise fashion around the table. The dealer deals out the first cards clockwise around the table, with each player receiving two cards which are dealt face down. These are called pocket or hole cards and only the player can see the cards they have been dealt. You can see your pocket cards in the side view by clicking on them and then putting them back on the table by clicking them again.

Each player then bets on what they think the cards they have will led to and the first player to bet is the one to the immediate left of the player who posted the big blind. A player has four choices when it is their action or turn. All players must at least match the amount in of the Big Blind in order to remain in the hand. If a player does not wish to match the Big Blind, he can throw his cards away and wait for the next hand to start. The player can also raise by an amount equal to the smaller bet. All players must now match this additional amount to remain in the hand.

Texas Hold’Em uses the standard bet and three raises model to ensure that the betting does not continue endlessly. The first round of betting is generally the lowest and once it is completed, it is time to see the flop. The flop is the set of three cards that are dealt face up in the middle of the table or board and each player is then able to look at these community cards and decide if they are able to make something with these and the cards they have already been dealt.

The next round of betting starts after the flop with the player to the immediate left of the dealer. The first player has the option of checking or betting. Checking can only be done when no bets have been placed in the current round and it refers to passing the action on to the next player. Once a bet has been placed, checking is no longer allowed. After any player places a bet, all other players have the option of calling, raising or folding. Calling refers to matching the bet in order to remain in the hand. Raising refers to making an additional bet in addition to a bet placed by another player. If a player is unwilling to match the bet, they may throw away their cards and wait for the next hand to start.

After the round of betting is completed, a fourth or turn card is dealt face up on the board. The players then look at the four community cards to see if they can make up a five card hand. The betting then begins again but at a higher stakes level – betting and raising is possible at this time only in the amount of the higher table stake. The betting limit now doubles. For example in the (R30/R60) game, the betting limit in this round would increase from R30 to R60.

The fifth and final community card, also known as the river card, is now dealt. Each player can now determine their best hand and the next round of betting at the higher table stake begins. The showdown occurs next, with all of the players revealing their hands and seeing who takes the pot. The last person to bet is the first person to show their hand. A player can win the pot by default, if all of the other players have folded. The player with the best five card hand wins the pot – if the hand consists only of community cards, the pot is then divided between all of the players who participated in the showdown. If two or more players tie, the pot is split evenly amongst those players. If there is an uneven amount, the remainder is given to the player on the dealer’s immediate left. The winning hand can be made up of a combination of any of the following: the player’s two hole cards and three community cards; one of the hole cards and four of the community cards or all five of the community cards. The game then starts again.

In Texas Hold’Em, bet amounts are set by the table stakes. In limit games, there can one bet and three raises in each round and after three rounds, the bet is capped. IN pot limit and no limit games, the betting is not capped at all.

Irregularities:

If the first card dealt is exposed a misdeal results. This means that the dealer has to re-shuffle and re-deal the cards. If during the course of the deal any of the other down cards or hole cards are exposed due to a dealer error, the deal continues. After completing the deal, the dealer replaces the exposed card with the top card on the deck and the exposed card is then used for the burn card. If during the deal more than one hole card is exposed, this leads to a misdeal and the cards have to be re-dealt. The player cannot keep an exposed card.

If the dealer mistakenly deals the first player a third down card, that card is returned to the deck, placed on top, and used as the burn card. If the dealer accidentally deals two or more extra cards, this is a misdeal regardless of any betting that may have already occurred. If the flop contains too many cards, the cards are retrieved, re-shuffled and the flop is re-dealt - even if it is possible to surmise which card is the ‘extra’ card.

If the dealer accidentally turns the fourth card before a betting round was completed, the exposed card is taken back out of play, even if the remaining player or players choose to not call any final bets. Once betting is genuinely completed, the dealer burns and exposes what would have been the fifth card in the fourth card's place. After the next round of betting, the dealer will re-shuffle the remaining deck but not burn cards or discards (this includes the card that had been incorrectly exposed) and then exposes the River Card without burning a card. If the River Card is exposed prematurely, the deck is re-shuffled/re-dealt in a similar manner.