The poker game Texas Hold ‘Em is a fun, strategic game played with two or more players. Texas Hold ‘Em is less about the cards you are dealt, and more about how you play them! Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play the card game Texas Hold ‘Em below. Quick Texas Holdem Tutorial are not valid. Wagering requirements (x45) apply. Some games contribute less to the wagering requirement, some games contribute nothing. Please see terms &. How to play poker guide - learn Texas Holdem Poker rules, hand rankings and poker tips to get you started in playing poker - Everything poker is an introduct. Basic Texas Holdem Pre-Flop Strategy Before you even see a flop you want to think about what hands you can make with the two cards you've been dealt. Your goal is to make 'top' pair (no other possible pair in combination with the board cards that can be higher than yours) after the flop with a very good kicker or better. The Quick Guide To Learn Texas Holdem Poker The World’s Most Popular Card Game: Texas Hold ’em Across the globe, there are thousands of different games based on the same fifty-two cards. From Blackjack to Baccarat to Bridge, there are many that have come and gone in popularity.
I am really glad that you found my easy to follow complete Texas Hold’em strategy guide where we will cover the basics as well as advanced concepts on how to play poker. The four-part tutorial is designed to benefit beginners, intermediate players, and even advanced players. No matter what your background, this guide will help you sharpen your skills with the end goal of making you a big winner in your chosen game.
I have been playing and teaching poker for over 10 years and know how difficult it can be to find useful information that actually leads to winning money at the game. My strength has always been in breaking down the game into simplified and easy to understand elements that optimize the speed at which anyone improves at poker. It is my belief that anyone can become an elite poker player with a bit of knowledge and hard work.
First, we need to establish the entire reason we play poker.
You may be wondering why I would even bother to define something that might seem really obvious to anyone reading this guide.
The reason is that the vast majority of people who sit down at a poker game really don’t understand what they are trying to accomplish or what the object of the game truly is.
On all accounts, everything that thinks these things is completely off base. Let’s establish the object of the game and what should be at the forefront of every decision you make at the poker table. That information will allow us to hone in on a formal definition for poker.
So, what is the object of the game in poker? The object of poker is to win more money or chips than your opponents over your lifetime by consistently making better decisions than them at every possible decision point.
That’s it.
So here’s the formal definition of poker: Poker is a family of card games where individual players compete to see who can win the most money or chips over the long term.
Ultimately, your goal as a player should be to figure out how to win more money. In this guide, we will focus on Texas Hold’em since it is the most popular game today. However, many of the concepts we will discuss will be relevant for any variant of poker you choose to play.
The mission of this guide (and website) is to expedite your journey toward mastering all the simple and complex concepts of poker so that you can become the best player you can be. Unlike other poker tutorials, I am not going to spend a bunch of time telling you what hands to raise, what to 3-bet, when to c-bet, etc. Each of those topics could fill an entire book. Besides, there are hundreds of articles, books, forum posts out there that go into the minutiae of that information in depth.
Instead, my objective is to provide a solid fundamental and theoretical foundation that allows you to comprehend poker strategy in a more efficient way. Basically, I want to teach you the proper mindset and give you the fundamental knowledge that allows you to maximize your potential. Once you understand the basics of how to win money in poker, building a strategy around that core goal becomes much easier. Put another way, if you don’t understand the information in my guide, learning poker would be like playing golf with a blindfold.
I wrote this tutorial for everyone. Whether you are new to the game, are a struggling intermediate player, or even an advanced player this guide has something for you. Beginners will benefit from obtaining all of the basic knowledge that I wish I had when I started over 10 years ago. Intermediate players will likely find a few things that they might have missed along the way. Advanced players will sharpen their skills by getting back to basics as a refresher course.
Whatever your background, this guide will help you either build or rebuild a poker game that is firmly based on sound fundamentals and theory. Once you master all of the concepts I have laid out for you, the rest all comes down to adjusting to your opponents. Your ultimate level of success in Texas Hold’em, or any other poker variant, depends on how well you adjust your strategy based on what other players are doing at the table.
This guide will focus on teaching you to win at Texas Hold’em cash games. Even so, the knowledge you will gain here will have relevance for any game format you choose. After all, cash games are the purest form of poker since there are no prize pools or ICM concerns to worry about. Mastering the information here will make you a beast in whatever game you choose to play. There is a reason cash game specialists are the best players in the world.
Because I actually win big at poker. I am not some famous “poker star” or someone who travels to the World Series of Poker every year. I am just one of many poker professionals who you have never heard of that plays poker as a side hobby instead of as a career.
The best thing is that I have been grinding the stakes that everyday players, like you and me, play right now in the real world. I know how the games run from 2NL all the way up to 600NL. I can teach you how to crush those games because that’s what I have been doing for years. I also am a winner in MTTs, SNGs, and even have won over 100 local live pub poker events. No matter the format, I can help you play better.
If you want a brief history of how I got started in poker, check out the about page. Or, if you prefer to see it with your own eyes, I have a ton of content on YouTube that shows me playing and talking through hands. In 2017 I completed something called the Spare Change Challenge, where I took some loose change from around the house and ran it up to $4,000 in about 70,000 hands. During that span, I also took first place in a small stakes MTT for $1,800 and had an ROI of 150%. By the way, the picture at the top of this page is one of my graphs.
For ease of navigation, I have split up the guide into 4 parts:
The poker game Texas Hold ‘Em is a fun, strategic game played with two or more players. Texas Hold ‘Em is less about the cards you are dealt, and more about how you play them! Find the video tutorial and written explanation for how to play the card game Texas Hold ‘Em below.
52 card deck; two or more players, poker chips
The player two spots left of the dealer has to put in the big blind (i.e., two chips), and the player just left of the dealer has to put in the small blind, which is half of the big blind.
The dealer will place the top card from the deck face down on the table. This is known as burning a card. After a card is burned, each player is dealt two cards, one card at a time.
The object of the game is to win chips. Chips are won by being the only player that did not fold, or by having the highest ranking poker hand among all the players that did not fold at the end of the hand. A poker hand consists of the best five cards among a player’s two dealt cards and the five cards that will be dealt into the middle throughout the hand.
Straight Flush (5 cards in sequence in the same suit )
4 of a kind
Full House (3 of a kind with a pair)
Flush (5 cards in the same suit)
Straight (5 cards in sequence)
3 of a kind
2 pair
Pair
High Card
Highest to lowest - Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
The player left of the big blind starts the first betting round. To stay in the hand, the player has to at least match the big blind. Matching a bet is known as calling.
If a player does not want to bet, he/she can fold by pushing his/her two cards into the middle. A player has the option to raise the bet by playing more than the big blind into the middle. When play reaches the player who played the big blind, he/she has the option to raise the bet or check. A check means the player is still in the game without increasing the bet.
When the first round of betting is completed, the dealer will burn one card, and flip the next three cards face up on the table. These three cards are known as the flop.
Another round of betting starts with the player left of the dealer. Players have three options. The player could fold and be out the hand, the player could say check, meaning he/she does not want to make a bet, but will stay in the hand, or the player can add a bet into the pot. Once a bet is made, players no longer have the option to check. The betting round is over when play returns to the player who initiated the last bet/raise.
When the betting round is over, the dealer will burn one card, and flip the next card face up on the table. This card is known as the turn. Another round of better starts with the first player left of the dealer that is still in the hand.
When the betting round is over, the dealer will burn one card, and flip the next card face up on the table. This card is known as the river. The final round of better starts with the first player left of the dealer that is still in the hand.
Once the betting round is over, all remaining players in the hand show their cards. The player with the highest ranking poker hand wins all the chips in the pot.
A player does not need to use both or any of the two cards dealt to him/her to create the best poker hand.
The middle pot is split if players have equally ranked poker hands.
If a player goes all in, a side pot can be created for the other players. For example, if a player goes all in with his last two chips, the next player can still bet four chips. Two chips will go into the main pot, and two chips will go into a side pot. If the all in player wins the hand, he wins the main pot, and the second best poker hand would win the side pot.
A player is out of the game when he/she is out of chips.
Blinds can be increased after a certain number of deals, or when a player gets knocked out of the game.