The Game of Texas Hold'em Poker
If you are completely new to Texas Hold’em, it is a poker variation that will seem strange at first. People with little knowledge of poker usually have a familiarity with stud and draw variations because of their portrayal in popular culture. Stud games “Five-Card” and “Seven-Card” are the most popular versions) deal hands that are a mix of cards known only to the holder and cards seen by everyone.
As cards are dealt and bets placed, only the player has complete knowledge of his or her hand, but others make guesses based on partial knowledge from the exposed cards. For draw games (Five-Card Draw is the most popular), there are no exposed cards. Only betting patterns and the number of cards drawn for improvement provide information
to the other players. Texas Hold’em is in a completely different class of poker variants
known as flop games. Flop games have elements of both stud and draw games. Like draw games, the cards dealt to the players are not exposed and are known only to them. Like stud games, hands are improved through exposed cards. The twist is that the exposed cards belong to everyone. The use of shared (or community) cards to complete
a poker hand is the defining characteristic of flop games. Some of the other flop variants (Omaha, Omaha Eight or Better, and Pineapple) are described in Appendix I. Of the flop games, Texas Hold’em is the most intricate and challenging to play. The annual World Series of Poker uses Texas Hold’em to determine the champion. While some of the information presented is relevant to the other flop games (and poker in general), the correct strategy and tactics for a game such as Omaha are different from Texas Hold’em, even though on the surface the games look remarkably similar.
Opportunities to play Texas Hold’em are more widespread than most people realize. Aside from the obvious locations (Atlantic City and Las Vegas), there are public cardrooms throughout California and the Northwest, on Native American reservations throughout the United States, and on riverboats up and down the Mississippi River system in the country’s heartland. Chapter 2 describes what to expect in a public cardroom and how to conduct yourself.
The Internet has actually provided unlimited opportunity to play online Texas Hold’em because of the growth of online poker games. You can visit one of these sites to access an online Texas Hold’em Poker cardroom.
Good Luck!!!!!
Tags: Poker, Texas Hold'em, Texas Holdem Poker
