Texas Hold’Em is possibly the most popular variation of the popular card game poker. Due to its interesting rules and engaging gameplay, this poker variant has established itself as a favourite among players worldwide. Even though the objective of Texas Hold’Em is identical to the one featured on all other poker games it still has a special charm that makes it stand out.
It is believed that Texas Hold’Em was born in Robstown, Texas and this provides a partial explanation of the variant’s name. The game was gaining on popularity quickly and started spreading throughout the States. It soon found its way to Las Vegas casinos, where it was established as “the game” and the rest is history.
Texas Hold’Em is played with a single deck of 52 cards and it usually features several game stages. It should be noted that unlike other game variants, players of Texas Hold’Em receive two hole cards, which are dealt face-down, and they combine them with five community cards, which are dealt face-up on the table. The objective of Texas Hold’Em is for a single player to stay in the game or to have the strongest hand of all the remaining players in the action.
There are several betting and playing stages in Texas Hold’Em. Namely, players first pay the initial blind bet to enter the game and then can raise, call or fold in the following three playing stages. The first playing stage is receiving your two hole cards and then another betting stage comes on the schedule. The second stage involves revealing the flop i.e. the first three community face-up cards. Another betting stage takes place and the turn card is revealed. Finally, the river card is revealed and followed by a last betting stage.
Once all betting and playing stages are completed, it is time for everyone that’s left in the game to show their hole cards. Players can combine all or none of their cards with the community cards in order to create the best possible hand. Each of the hands are compared and the strongest one is considered the winning one. The hand rankings are standard poker hand rankings with Royal Flush being the strongest and high card the weakest.
Players should have in mind that there are different formats of Texas Hold’Em; the two most popular ones are Limit Texas Hold’Em and No Limit Texas Hold’Em. These two options either limit or give players freedom regarding betting. The first option offers pre-determined betting amounts each stage, whereas the second one lets players bet as much as they want. Two other popular and widely offered Texas Hold’Em formats are Pot Limit and Mixed. When playing Pot Limit Texas Hold’Em players can bet up to the size of the pot, whereas in Mixed, the game switches each round from Limit to No Limit and vice-versa.
Things to have in mind in terms of strategy include your position on the table, narrowing the field, knowing when to rise and when to call as well as when to go all-in. Also, it’s important to know how to calculate the odds.
So, the position on the table may put you in a better place than the rest if you are the last one to bet. This way, you can kind-of control the game and see where the others are trying to lead the game before you decide to raise, call or fold. Narrowing the field usually refers to trying to lay low while other players try to play big and are forced to leave the game. The less opponents you have the better.
When it comes to raising and calling, never just raise without trying to achieve something; this may range from gaining information on who will follow or just scaring players and forcing them to fold. Stick to calling when you have strong hands, but want to leave room for the pot to grow or when the odds are good. Going all-in is the biggest risk, thus keep it for the best of hands only. Finally, know the number of cards in total as well the number of cards of a certain colour, suit etc. This can help you calculate the odds when you are trying to complete hands like flush or straight.
Unlike land-based poker, which usually is much harder to find, featured at distant facilities and more expensive to enjoy, an online Texas Hold’Em adventure can be started within minutes. Therefore, more and more players decide to test their poker skills at reputable online poker operators.
Online poker can be accessed regardless the player’s location as long as they have a strong Internet connection. This means that Texas Hold’Em can be played from the comfort of one’s home or even on the move.
Another thing to note is that online poker is usually a much cheaper pleasure than land based poker. Namely, online poker can serve hundreds of players at a time, a fact that allows operators to have lower buy-ins. Also, since you are playing online, nobody can really read your poker face, see if you are nervous etc.
The last and possibly the most important difference between online and land based Texas Hold’Em is related to the table, cards and dealer – all of them are virtual. Players sit on a virtual table, they play with virtual cards and place bets with virtual chips. There is no dealer and everything is done by the software. Thus, online poker sessions are much faster since all calculations are done instantly.
In order to play online Texas Hold’Em, players must join a site that features the game and, once registered with the site, will have to make a deposit in order to have funds for playing online poker. They make a deposit using any of the accepted deposit methods that usually include credit cards, wire transfer and e-wallets.
Other than that, the gameplay is quite similar to playing live Texas Hold’Em. You take a seat at a table and join the action by placing initial bets. Afterwards, you follow the general rules of the game by calling, folding or increasing the betting amount. At the end of all stages, all players’ hands are automatically revealed by the software and the winner is determined. The software takes care of crediting the appropriate wins to the winner and then gives players a certain amount of time to decide whether they want to leave the table or stay for another round.
As serious and scary these two issues are, players of online Texas Hold’Em have nothing to worry about as long as they register with reputable and licensed online gambling operators. The online gambling industry is highly regulated by independent authorities and agencies that audit both the safety and the fairness standards of operators.
Texas Hold’Em Online Tournaments have become a big thing lately, with hundreds of thousands of players worldwide taking part in them. These tournaments can be both free to access or feature a buy-in in return to playing chips. The gameplay unfolds as usual, but the ones to win progress the tournament and become candidates of winning juicy prizes. Seats are usually randomly assigned to all registered players and everyone has an identical starting stack. There is always only one winner on such Texas Hold’Em tournaments, but depending on the tournament and the operator, even the first 10 or 50 players may earn some consolidation prizes for their participation.
