Texas Holdem is a very popular poker game often played in tournaments.  It is played with a regular 52 card deck.  The object of the game is to win with a better hand than everyone else.  It’s a fairly easy game to play once the rules and hands are figured out.

The game is played off of poker hands.  These hands are ranked in order of higher card values.  The lowest hand a player can have is a high card.  This is when the hand consists of no cards that makes any of the higher hands.  Next, is a pair, which is two cards of the same number, for example two nines.  If two players have a pair though, the higher numbered pair beats the lower number.  The next hand in order is two pair, say a pair of nines and a pair of twos.  After that is three of a kind, three cards of the same number.  The next hand is a straight, which is five cards in numerical order, for example 5,6,7,8,9.  This can only happen if all five cards are in order, it can’t be used if only four or less cards are in order.  A flush is above a straight and is similar in the way that it has to be all five cards and no less for it to work.  It is five cards of the same suit.  On a deck of cards there are four suits and every number is in each suit.  To get a flush, the numbers don’t have to be in numerical order.  A full house is the next hand in order.  This is when a hand consists of three of a kind and a pair.  Above that is four of a kind, four cards of the same number.  When a flush is in numerical order, that is called a straight flush, the second highest hand.  The highest hand in poker is a royal flush.  This is a straight of the highest cards, ten, jack, queen, king, and ace, all of the same suit.  This hand is the highest poker hand because it is the top of the ranks, and it is the hardest hand to acquire.

Texas Holdem starts out with every player putting in an ante.  This could be of any amount that is called by the dealer.  Then, the dealer deals out all players two cards face down.  After the deal, there is a round of betting where each player gets the chance to check, bet, or fold, depending on the cards in the player’s hand.  A check is when a player wants to stay in the game without betting.  If one player bets though, everyone else has to either match the bet, raise the bet to even higher, or fold.  Folding is when a player puts down their hand and is out for the rest of the round.  After the first round of betting is over, the dealer will take three cards from the deck and put them face up on the table.  All players in the game make their hands from the cards that are face up on the table.  After this move, there is another round of betting.  Then, the dealer flips over one card, followed by another round of betting.  After this, there is one final card flipped over and one final round of betting, making it five cards shown up on the table.  A player can only have a five card hand, this means they can’t play off of all five cards on the table and the two in their hand.  They must leave two of the cards out of the hand they’ve made, making it a five card hand.

There are two ways that the game ends.  Either every player except one folds on a bet, or at the end of the last round of betting, all remaining players show their cards and the highest hand wins.  The winner of the round wins anything that was bet during round.  The next round can be started by all the cards being shuffled and the next dealer dealing out two cards to every player after everyone’s ante.