Tue, 07/26/2011 – 11:50 – PokerPages Staff

Once you’ve had a quick look at the PokerStarssoftware, you may well be wondering about the intricacies of Texas Hold‘em. This community card game is the most popular poker game in the world, played by millions of enthusiasts. Texas Hold’em is also a great game for a beginner poker player to learn poker rules.

Community Cards

The idea behind Texas Hold‘em is to make the best five-card poker handpossible by combining the two hole cards dealt to you with the five community cards laid out on the table. The cards are dealt in three phases with betting rounds taking place after each phase. Players can combine any of the seven available cards to make a hand. They may use one, two or even none of their hole cards in conjunction with the community cards.

Betting Rounds

Before any cards are dealt, the two players to the left of the dealer must place their a bets, known as the blinds, this is to ensure that there is some money on the table when the game commences. After the hole cards are dealt, there is a round of betting, where each player will either need to call, and match the bet placed by the previous player, or fold, and declare himself or herself out of the hand. Further rounds of betting follow the dealing of the first three community cards, known as the flop, the fourth card, known as the turn, and the final card, which is known as the river. 

The Showdown

After all four rounds of betting have been completed, if more than one player remains in the game, there is a showdown. At this point, all remaining players must show their hands, and the player with the highest hand in the game wins the pot. 

Want to learn more? PokerSchoolOnline is the Internet’s #1 source for poker related learning.

Tue, 04/19/2011 – 03:25 – PokerPages Staff

There are three main types of poker played commonly in casinos.  Our guide will briefly outline the poker rules. 

The oldest form of poker is draw poker- and it is still popular today.  This game involves a blind hand of cards being dealt to participants and bets being placed.  Players then view the cards and are allowed to exchange them after another round of poker betting.  This is called the ‘draw’ phase.  Five-card draw is the most common variant with one round of card changes and different rounds of betting allowed.  There are numerous other variants depending on the casino.

Also popular is stud poker. Seven-card stud is the most popular variant.  It involves seven cards with four face up and three with which to make the best hand.  There are normally a few rounds of poker bets involved with stud poker, and the combination of other players knowing most of their opposition’s hands leads to some tense games.

The most popular form of poker is community card poker.  Texas Hold‘em is a type of community card poker.  This game features five community cards being revealed throughout the game.  Each player has two cards with which to make the best hand out of a group of five card.  Community card poker leads to diverse and complex strategies.  This is one of the reasons why the game is so popular throughout the world.  The majority of poker tournaments play variants of Texas Hold‘em.

Want to learn more?  PokerSchoolOnline is the Internet’s #1 source for poker related learning.  One excellent way to put what you have learnt to the test is by playing free at PokerStars.net.