How to Play Hold Em Poker

These instructions will teach you how to play Texas hold em poker:

1. The first round is called posting, where all the players place an initial bet to get things started. After this the dealer shuffles up a stack of standard 52 playing cards.
2. The players are then dealt pocket cards. These are two in number and are given to you face down.
3. Next, the players start the first round of betting starting from the left of the blinds. This is known as the preflop betting round, and like most games of poker, players can call, raise or fold.
4. On the completion of the first betting round, the dealer discounts the first card on the deck, which is known as the bum card. This is done in an effort to prevent cheating.
5. The next step is the flop. in this step, the dealer takes out the next three cards from the deck and places them face up on the table. These are cards that anyone can use in combination with their pocket cards to form a hand of poker.
6. The player sitting to the left of the dealer starts another betting round.
7. Once the bets are played out, the dealer burns again, then flips another communal card, known as the turn.
8. The player to the left of the dealer plays another betting round. in most games, this is the time of the game that the bet sizes begin to double.
9. Once again, the dealer burns a card and brings out a communal card face up on the table, known as a river. Now, the players can use any of the five cards on the table or the two pocket cards to form a five card poker hand.
10. Once again the betting starts with the person sitting to the left of the dealer. This is followed by what is known as the showdown, where all the players who have not folded show their hands. This begins with the player to the left of the last player to call. The players are supposed to use a combination of their pocket cards and the communal cards to form a five card poker hand.
11. The player with the best hand wins and if there is an equal hand then the pot is split.

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