No Limit Texas Hold’em Basics

The game of Poker is one of today’s fastest growing games in terms of its popularity.  Poker is played in several settings nowadays, from the casinos to the living rooms of people.  It’s a game that’s both fun and addictive.  There are a bunch of types of poker games.  One of the most popular types of these is the no limit Texas hold’em.  The difference between the normal Texas hold’em with the no limit Texas hold’em, is that you can bet as high as you wish in the no limit Texas hold’em games.

The Hand

The game is played with a hand of two cards per person, faced down, and a set of five cards on the table.  The objective of the game is to beat your opponents’ best five-card combinations using any of the total seven cards.  You may also use the five cards on the table if that’s your best hand.  A five hand card using the five cards on the table is called ‘playing the board’.

The Buttons

There are three buttons used in the game.  The dealer button, the small blinds button and big blinds button.  The dealer button is assigned to the player who will be given the first card, and he is the one to act before the flop.  The blinds are two players who are forced to bet during the round.  The small blind is forced to bet half of the low limit bet size and the big blind is forced to bet the amount equal to that of the low limit bet.  The buttons are passed along in a clockwise manner, so that every turn, there’s a new player assigned to them.

The Process

The game starts with the forced bets.  The small blind bets first, then the big blind bets.  To call, the players must bet the amount that was bet by the big blind, the big blind can either raise the bet or keep it as is.  Then the dealer starts off by handing each player two cards faced down, starting with the small blind and ending with the dealer, this is called the Pre-flop phase.  The next phase is called the flop.  This is where the dealer burns a card and presents three community cards facing up on the table.  Next phase is the Turn phase.  The dealer burns another card and presents a single community card facing up.  The final phase is the River phase, where the dealer burns yet another card and shows the final community card facing up on the table.  This is followed by the showdown, where the players show each other’s faced down cards to determine which of them holds the best five-card combination, which is the winner.