Texas No Limit Hold’em Basic Rules
by Sandford Tuey

In No Limit Texas Hold'em players get two down cards and five community cards (which are face-up in the middle of the table). Your hand is determined by using the best five of those seven cards (in any combination) with the best hand winning the pot. There are four betting rounds in No Limit Hold’em. To continue to play, players must act on each betting round and call all action to them (unless they are "All-In"). Betting always proceeds in a clockwise rotation.

The following is the basic procedure for Texas Hold’em:

Prior to dealing the cards, two blinds (the Small Blind and the Big Blind) are placed in the pot in the center of the table by the two players to the immediate left of the dealer (indicated by the circular dealer "button". The blinds are put in to start the action.

Everyone is dealt two down cards ("hole cards"). The action begins with the player to the left of the Big Blind by either folding, calling, or raising. Beginning with this round of betting (and throughout the remainder of the hand), the player to the left of the button acts first. A player may now check (not bet or fold) or bet if there is no betting in front of them. If there is betting and/or raising in front of them, they may Call, Raise, or Fold. Action continues with all players making one of these decisions. This completes the first betting round.

The dealer then turns over three cards (community cards known as "The Flop"). After this starts the second betting round.

Following the completion of action on the "flop", the dealer turns over another card (known as "The Turn" or "Fourth Street"). This is the third round of betting. (In No Limit Hold'em, the amount bet doubles on "The Turn" depending on house rules. The betting again starts with the player closest to the left of the button.

Following the completion of action on "the turn", the dealer turns over the last card (known as "The River" card or "Fifth Street"). This is the final round of betting.

Upon completion of the final round of betting, the best five card hand wins the pot.

The Small and Big Blinds

Before any cards are dealt, chips for both blinds must be placed in front of the two players to the left of the dealer button. The Small Blind is put up by the player on the immediate left of the dealer and starts out as half of the Big Blind amount. This means that the person (second to the left of the dealer) puts up the Big Blind amount. It is recommended that both players should try and defend these chip positions if the poker hand they have has any merit and even if it doesn’t they might try and stay in to at least see the flop.

All the other players who want to see the flop must pony up the amount of chips equal to the Big Blind. If the person putting up the Small Blind decides to stay in, they must add enough chips to match the Big Blind amount.

Note that the blinds go up at timed intervals, which puts players with short stacks (low amount of chips) to consider going ‘All In’ because they will soon be ‘blinded out’. This means that the higher the blinds - the faster the players are put in this position. So keeping track of how many rounds of poker you are able to compete in can be determined by the amount of chips you have for future blind amounts.

Poker Betting

Poker is a psychological game of chance and skill where each player also has to have a good handle on money (chip) management. Once the Small and Big Blinds are posted, the players bet (in a clockwise order) by putting chips into the pot in the middle of the table. When betting gets to you - you have one of five choices:

Bet - Each player can bet an amount equal or more then the Big Blind (usually in amounts of the Big Blind). This amount goes into the pot.

Call - If you call, you bet the total amount of what has already been bet by a previous player. For example, if a player bet a hundred dollars, you would put up hundred dollars of chips into the pot. If another player raises your bet, you would put an additional amount equal to the raise amount.

Raise - When raising, you first bet enough to match the amount that has already been bet by another player (see call above), then you 'raise' the bet another amount. For example, if a player bet fifty dollars, you may call the fifty dollars and raise a further fifty dollars, raising the total bet to one hundred dollars.

Fold – If you choose to fold, you drop out of the current hand by tossing your cards to the dealer face down. By doing this you can not win the pot and you are out of this round of action. You do not have to put any more money into the pot.

Check – If no one has called or raised the pot, then each player may Check. This means they do not wish to add further chips to the pot but want to continue to play the hand they hold.

At the end of all betting and the final (river) card is revealed, the highest poker hand wins the pot.

In No Limit poker games, the maximum limit to bet or raise is the entire amount of chips you have on the table (All In). Determining when and how much to bet is a large part of the skill and strategy of poker. To determine the amount you should bet, you need to understand the odds of getting a particular poker hand (but that’s another article in itself).

Poker Hands - ranked from high to low:

Rank Hand Name Description of poker hand and Example

1 Royal Flush A, K, Q, J, 10 of same suit (10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of Hearts).
2 Straight Flush Five cards of same suit in sequence (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 all Clubs)
3 4 of a kind Four cards of the same rank (5 Heart, 5 Diamond, 5 Spade, 5 Club).
4 Full House Three of a kind plus a pair (9 Heart, 9 Clubs, 9 Spade, Jack Heart, Jack Club).
5 Flush Five cards of the same suit (2, 4, 10, Jack and King of Diamonds).
6 Straight Five cards in sequence (4 Hearts, 5 Clubs, 6 Spades, 7 Diamonds, 8 Clubs).
7 3 of a kind Three cards of the same rank (King of Clubs, King of Spades, King of Hearts).
8 2 Pair Two pairs of different rank (2 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 8 of Spades, 8 Clubs).
9 1 Pair Two cards of the same rank (King Hearts, King of Diamonds).
10 Higest card in hand Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, etc…

All In

At any time during betting a player may go ‘ALL IN’ and challenge another player’s hand making the other player equal the amount of their ‘All In’ bet or fold. This is the way to clear a table of your opponents and one of the most exciting reasons Texas Hold’em Poker is so popular today.

Sizing Up the Competition

Since it was my first time playing Texas Hold’em I asked a lot of players questions and the following is the advice I was given at the tables during the tournament.

“I don’t play my cards differently when up against a woman or a man. The cards determine my strategy, not the sex of the player.” volunteered Amie.

Rob (a final table contender) tells just about everyone, “There’s no second place! There’s no second place.” He reminds me at every opportunity to go for it every chance you can.

I asked Bob, a dealer for at least seven years, how he decides what amount to bet. His response, “It depends.” When I pry a little more he responses with, “You don’t always need good cards, they help, but sometimes you can use Chip Equity to inspire opponents to fold.” When I ask about this strategy Bob smiles and says, “Opponents think twice if half their chip stack is threatened, so count their stack and bet enough to make them decide if they want to risk a major portion of their chips on the hand they are playing. You would be surprised how many fold to save their chips.”

Karl let me in with a secret, “Make the other players pay to see the flop or another card, especially if you have a good hand that way you build the pot and it gives incentive for the weaker hands to fold.”

Nhi claims, “There’s nothing worse than folding a winning hand so I recommend that you don’t play like a chicken.” She was right as I did this on several occasions and still shake my head.

Bruce told me, “How the other players bet lets me know if they are confident in their hand or not. If they check before the flop or after the flop determines if I should bet aggressively.”

Johnny informed me, “Bluffing is an important aspect of the game but in a free tournament like this one you really have to be very good. Showing your winning hand to the other players at the table may give you an opportunity of strength later in the game when you are playing a weak hand. “

Simon tells me, “I play with a group of friends Friday nights but the competition at this tournament has improved my ability to read people. I definitely will be playing again in the fall tournament but expect me to be even more aggressive.”

One dealer laughed at me and said, “You had a ‘Flat Tire’, I can’t believe you played that hand.” When I asked what she meant she explained, “What’s a Jack for? To change a tire, right. Well you have a Jack and a Four – not a good hand to play but that’s your choice.” My only response was, “Well that’s why they call it gambling!”