Florida Poker Tours - Texas Hold'em Fixed Limit

The Basics of

Poker

Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game with four betting rounds.
Each player is privately dealt an incomplete hand, these pocket cards are placed face down.
Then community cards are cards dealt face up to the center of the table, these are shared by all players.
In total there are seven cards.

First off each player receives their personal two down cards, this is followed by a round of betting. Then three community cards are placed simultaneously on the board, again there is a round of betting. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card.
Now the seven cards are out and four rounds of betting has occurred.
The best five card poker hand - constructed by any mix of the seven cards - wins the pot.
Highest hand wins
Players may use one, both or neither of their hole cards to make their highest hand
Ace plays both high and low for straights
Cards speak

Cards dealt to each player - 2 concealed
Community cards dealt - 5
Number of betting rounds - 4
Limits - Fixed Limit / Pot Limit / No Limit
Blinds or Antes - Blinds or Both

The Table Layout

Texas Hold'em is played on a table with 2 to 10 players. Sometimes you may see 11 players squeezed in on one table in the early rounds of a tournament but the normal maximum is 10 players. The left of where the dealer sits is ALWAYS seat number ONE. When the game first starts everyone draws one card and highest draw has a 'dealer' button placed in front of him.

Notice that the positions are labeled but not the 'seat numbers'. Your seat number NEVER changes unless you move, but your position changes after every move of the button

The Dealer

A person does the physical dealing of the cards and is not one of the players. On the table is a small round disc called the button. This button is placed in front of the person who is the theoretical "dealer" to indicate where the dealing should begin.
The button will say 'D' on it as shown in picture below.

After every hand, the button moves clockwise as if each player at the table were getting a turn to deal.

The Blinds

Always moving clockwise, the player to the immediate left of the dealer (left of the dealer button) is called the small blind. This player places 1/2 of the structured bet in front of him or her. To the small blind's left is the big blind. This player places one full structured bet in front of him or her.

In our example of No Limit Texas Hold'em, the small blind will post 5. That is 1/2 of the structured bet. The big blind will post 10. That 10 will constitute one full bet.

The small and big blinds are compulsory bets. These two players are in actuality betting their first bet "in the blind." The motive for forcing these players to bet in the blind is to create action. Creating action gets money in the pot. This way no one can play for free (without folding) during the first round of betting.

When the next new hand is played the small blind then moves around to the player who was the big blind in the last hand, and the big blind moves to the player to his left. This movement of the small and big blinds continues throughout the game.

poker rules: The most common form of poker is limit, usually referred to with numbers, like 1 / 2 Texas Hold'em. The numbers represent the size that bets must be on certain rounds of betting. In Texas Hold'em the bets the first two rounds are the first number and the bets the last two rounds are the second number. Also there can be no more than one bet and three raises in any betting round. Once the third raise is made the betting is capped.
For example in a 1 / 2 game, a player may bet 1 in the first betting rounds and may raise to 2 in the final betting rounds. If a player bets 2 then any raiser must raised to 4.
Bet/Raise Increment: Pre-Flop 2 On the Flop 2 On the Turn 4 On the River 4

The Pocket or Hole Cards

Limit Texas Hold'em uses all 52 cards in the deck. The dealer begins the deal with the small blind. There will be 2 unique cards called Pocket or Hole cards dealt face down to each player. The hole or pocket cards are exclusive to each player. Each player will view these cards and no other player will see the other players 2 cards.

Betting Round 1 Pre-Flop

After the pocket or hole cards are dealt, the first round of betting begins. There are several actions a player who is involved in the hand can take.

The player may CALL the bet by matching the amount of the first bet (the amount of the big blind.) In the example, that would be 10.

The player may RAISE the bet by matching the amount of the first bet and adding an equal amount to it thereby making it 2 bets. In the example, that would be 20 (10 + 10.)

The player may RAISE the bet by matching the amount of the first bet and adding an equal amount to it thereby making it 2 bets. In the example, that would be $20 ($10 + $10.)

Finally, the player may FOLD. When a player folds, the action taken is one of passing and the player will not enter the hand by placing any money in the pot. This player will place his cards face down in front of him and the dealer will take them and place them in the discard pile. When online, the player will click on the fold button and his cards will automatically go into the discards.

The first person to start the betting in the first round of Limit Texas Hold'em is the player to the left of the big blind. As stated before, the big blind has already made one complete bet.

The betting will continue until everyone in the pot has bet the same amount. That means that whenever there is a raise all the players still in the pot must call it, raise it or fold their hand. For example, if seat 5 raises then all the players behind him that want to stay in the pot will have to call the new amount or fold or re-raise.

The small blind must add their other half of the structured bet in order to call or the other half plus one full bet in order to raise. Otherwise, the small blind folds.

In this example:
Seat 3 and 4 folded.
Seat 5 called 10 and raised 10 (making the total bet 20).
Seat 6 folded.
Seat 7 called the 20 bet.
Seat 8,9,10 folded.
The big blind called the 10 raise and the small blind folded.

Notice when the betting passed seat 10 the small blind folded and the big blind had the option to re-raise during this round of play. He chose to call only.

During the first round of betting, the big blind will have the OPTION to raise. As the action moves around the table and comes back to the big blind, the dealer will ask if they would like to exercise their option to raise. If they do, they may raise. If they do not, they will just check. In a way, they are raising themselves. This OPTION only happens during the first round.

Note: In limit hold'em there can only be one bet and three raises. If there is a third re-raise, its called a cap.

Betting Round 2 The Flop

To begin the second round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and then place three cards in the middle of the table.

These 3 cards are known as the flop. These are the first 3 of 5 community cards (cards accessible to all players to use with their hole cards) to be dealt face up in the middle of the table. These 3 cards may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their own hand to form the best possible hand.

The second round of betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer (the person with button.) This player may CHECK, which is deferring the first action to the next player or choose to bet. The amount to bet in this round of betting is the same as the first round, one structured bet.

It is of interest to note that after the flop, the players have seen 71% of all cards to be used.

In the example:
The big blind will be the first to act.
The big blind checks.
Seat 5 bets 10.
Seat 7 calls 10 and raises 10.
The big blind calls the 20 bet.
Seat 5 calls the 10 raise.
All three players have acted and placed the same amount in the pot.

The second round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot, checked or folded.

Betting Round 3 The Turn

To begin the third round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and place a 4th card in the middle of the table next to the flop.

This card is known as the turn or 4th street.

This round of betting will begin again with the player to the left of the dealer. If this player decides to bet, the amount of the bet in this round will be 2 structured bets, which, in this example would be 20 (equal to double the original structured bet.) Just as with the flop, the turn card may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their own hand, to make the best hand out of 5 cards only.

In the example:
The big blind checks.
Seat 5 bets 20 (2 structured bets).
Seat 7 calls 20 and raises 20.
The big blind folds.
Seat 5 re-raises 20 and seat 7 caps the betting with the last 20 raise.
Seat 5 calls the 20 raise.

The third round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted. They will all have either, checked, placed the same amount in the pot, or folded.

Betting Round 4 The River

To begin the fourth round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and place a 5th card in the middle of the table next to the flop and turn card.

This card is known as the river or 5th street.

This round of betting will begin again with the player to the left of the dealer. If this player decides to bet, the amount of the bet in this round will once again be equal to 2 structured bets. Just as with the flop and the turn, the river card may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their own hand.

In the example:
Seat 5 bets 20.
Seat 7 calls 20 and raises 20.
Seat 5 calls the 20 raise and re-raises 20.
Seat 7 completes the betting with a 20 cap.

The fourth and final round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot, checked or folded.

The Showdown

Players who have not folded show their hands. The first person left in the hand to reveal his or her cards will be the one that made the last bet during the 4th round of the hand. If no bet was made and all the players checked, then, in order from the left of the dealer to the last player will show his or her hand.

When a player has a better hand, it must be revealed in order to win. If the player elects to throw the cards away because of it being of less value than any other revealed hand, he or she may muck the cards (place the cards where they will be discarded.)

When a player is sure that he or she is beaten, he or she may or may not elect to show his or her hand (because it gives information about what hand he or she held.) The dealer will identify who has the best hand and the pot will be given to this player.

Because the hand went to a showdown, the winning player has the right to request to see the losing hand even if the losing player mucks his hand.

Using the community cards (which remain on the table) and their pocket cards, each player announces their best possible hand (see Poker Hand Rankings for additional information).
A player may use 5 of the 7 cards to make the best hand possible.
It may be the 2 unique cards in his or her hand combined with 3 from the board (table where community cards are located).
Or 1 unique card combined with 4 from the board.
Or the 5 cards on the board (this is called playing the board).

When the best hand possible (for everyone) is made up of just "community cards" (no pocket/hole cards), then the pot is split by everyone still in the game (everyone who hasn't folded).

In the example:
Seat 5 reveals his hole cards to be the King and Queen of Hearts giving him the nut flush.
Seat 7 turns over the Ace and King of Diamonds and wins the hand with Aces full of Kings.
The dealer shoves the pot to seat 7.

All cards are returned to the dealer. The cards are shuffled and/or scrambled in preparation for the next hand. The dealer button is moved one position clockwise, indicating the new dealers position. The blinds are also moved one position clockwise and the blind bets are posted and a new hand begins.