Texas Holdem Poker rules are simple to learn… there’s actually an old saying that Texas Holdem takes 5 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. Hold’em is played in all betting variations(for more info click here), but no limit hold’em is by far the most popular at the moment. Also Hold’em is played as a High(Hi) game as far as hand rankings are concerned(for more info on hand rankings click here), at least I never heard of any game played as a Low(Lo) or Hi/Lo Hold’em gameJ.
HOW THE GAME RUNS:
First each player is dealt two hole cards face down, starting with the player left of the dealer(one of the players is nominated the dealer, usually by card draw, and then the dealer is moved to the left after each hand). Before the game begins the two players to the left of the dealer post the small blind(SB) and big blind(BB). Blinds are basically blind bets/bets made before anyone sees their cards(SB is usually ½ of BB).
Preflop:
After everybody has their cards and the blinds are posted the first betting round begins. The betting starts with the first player left of the BB and then continues all around the table. Betting is explained Here.
Flop:
When the preflop betting stops the dealer puts 3 cards from the deck on the table, these are the first 3 community cards called the flop. Then there is another round of betting, this time starting with the SB and continuing to the left around the table.
Turn:
Now you just repeat the process from the flop except only one additional community card is open. That card is called the turn.
River:
Guess what… just do the same as on the turn. The fifth community card is called the river. This is also the last community card, after this betting round players show their cards(either starting with the player on the left of the dealer or the last aggressor, house rules differ) and the player with the highest ranking card combination wins(card rankings are explained Here). In Texas Holdem you can use all community cards and both of your two hole cards to form the best possible five card combination.
Omaha rules
Omaha belongs to the hold’em familly, so it’s played the same way, but with two key differences:
- Each player is dealt 4 cards instead of just 2
- At the end players must use EXACTLY two of their hole cards and EXACTLY three community cards to form the best possible five card hand.
As far as betting in omaha is concered, it can be played with any variation(more on betting variations Here), but currently the most popular variant is pot limit omaha.
Now for hand rankings, omaha is played as a High(Hi) or Hi/Lo game(never heard of anyone playing just Omaha Lo, but I guess it’s doable). For more on hand rankings click Here.
Enjoy playing!
