Texas Hold'em is fast becoming known as a good game for beginning poker players to learn in order to reach a useful skill level in a short time. The basics can be learned in a few minutes and a few hours of practice will see you playing fairly well.

Game Play

Betting structure can vary, but most games start with the two players to the left of the dealer placing a pre-determined wager (also called posting the blinds) so that there is a pot to play for.

The entire deck of 52 cards is used. Once shuffled by the dealer, all players are dealt two cards face down. These are your hole or pocket cards.

The deal is followed by a round or two of betting, starting with the player to the left of the two who placed the initial bet. These rounds of betting are often blind, meaning that the players do not look at the two cards they have been dealt yet. These bets are forced - they must be made before the players are allowed to see their cards. Other games will allow the players to see their hole cards before placing bets at this point. This round of betting is sometimes referred to as the pre-flop.

Next the dealer will flip the next three cards face-up onto the table. These cards are called the flop and can be used by any player in combination with their hole cards to make a poker hand. Another round of betting follows the flop, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

A fourth card is dealt (the turn), followed by a round of betting, and then a fifth up card (the river), followed by the final betting round. Each player who is still in the game forms a five card hand from his hole cards and the mutual up cards on the table.

The game is won by the best hand only and players are not required to make use of their hole cards (known as 'playing the board'). Identical 5 card hands split the pot - the 6th and 7th cards are not used as tiebreakers.