How to Play Texas Holdem

Nobody quite knows just who devised this game for the first time. But it is to veteran Doyle Brunson’s credit to bring the game to limelight from the backwaters of Fort Worth in Texas, close to the border of Mexico.

Those were the days when people used to converge around the poker tables where Doyle played, and gawked and shrieked when Doyle would sweep away the prize money with his high-stakes footwork – or rather, handwork. Whatever be the technicalities, Doyle Brunson is considered to be the father of the game.

Today, Texas Hold’em is one of *the* most popular poker games played around the world. Viewer ratings of TV stations beaming them almost every day are proof enough for that. No longer is the game considered illegal, to be played by bootleggers with a cigarette dangling between the lips, gun strategically placed on the table. No longer is poker supposed to be played by bored families during sultry, lazy afternoons. Texas Hold’em is big game, man! Thousands of wannabes these days spend hours upon hours of their time honing up their poker skills on the internet. Their inspiration? The likes of Chris Moneymaker (it’s his surname, by the way), who spent $40 – just $40! – from his pocket and went on to pick the prize money of $2.5 million - $2,500,000! – from the green felt table. The game he played? Texas Hold’em. In an avatar called “No Limit”. If the money sounds astounding enough, sample this. In July 2005, a guy from Melbourne Australia walked into the casino at Las Vegas, and walked away with a prize money of $7.5 million – thrice Chris’ prize! – after beating 5,619 other contenders. The total prize money given away in this tournament: $52,818,610. Now show us any other sport with this kind of money! The game played by the winner? Texas Hold’em, “No Limit” variant. Joseph Hachem, the new champion millionaire, might notch up many more victories in the future, and we wish him all the best! However, 16th July – the day Joe picked up the crown - shall be celebrated as an anniversary by the Hachem family every year!

Texas Hold’em is a game that can pull you up from “hoi-polloi” status to “celebrity” status in a moment, you see. All that you have to do is to learn the game and polish your skills everyday, day after day. The basic game is really quite easy to learn. Like in anything new that you learn, Texas Hold’em – and other poker games – has its own terminology which you should come to grip with as fast as you can.

Texas Hold’em requires a typical 52 card deck. The game can be played with as little as two players, and the rules do not allow more than 11 players in one game. One of players has to monitor the proceedings – the player that takes on this role for a game is called the “dealer”. In informal games, this role can be rotated from one player to another, so that everybody gets to share this responsibility. (Being a dealer is actually advantageous – you are the last person to be called upon to give your decision about the cards in your hand.) In casinos and professional games, a “dealer” is a usually a fulltime employee engaged for just this position; he is the person “at the button”. In some others, a disc with the button rotates and stops before each player … the variants are many.

First-off, limit to how high the players can bet is established. The highest bet is usually twice the size of the minimum bet. Next, a ritual known as “posting the blinds” is followed, where two players put in their money upfront, before the cards have been dealt – that is why it is called “blind”. The first honor goes to the player positioned to the left of the dealer who puts up a “small blind” bet. This is 50% of the minimum bet (“half bet”) decided earlier. This is matched by the player sitting adjacent to the small blind player, who posts a “big blind” bet; this is usually equal to the minimum bet (“full bet”). The money is put in the center of the table; traditionally the center is called as “the pot”. The blind money seeds the pot, and serves to entice the attention of the people sitting around it (as if they needed such enticement!). It is this “pot of gold” that every Chris Moneymaker and Joe Hachem aspires to win!

Now, all is set for the game to begin.

The dealer shuffles the cards and deals two cards to each player face down, known as “hole cards” or “pocket cards”. These are the player’s personal cards, not to be shown to anyone else. After looking at their cards, the players get to judge their own strength for that particular round. First Betting Round now commences –the player sitting to the left of the player who posted the big blind gets to move first.

There are three options available to each player. They can either “call”, “raise”, or “fold”.

You make a “call”, when you put enough money in the pot that equals or matches the bet that has been made before it was your turn to act. Suppose you had bet $15. Another player bet $19. That means that you owe the pot $4 in order to even out your contribution. By posting the $4, you say you have called.

You make a “raise”, when you up the ante. The hole cards in your hands give you enough confidence, you feel it is your day in the sun today, and go for the win. In a raise, therefore, you first match the contribution of others (by reaching the “call” level); and then post some more. This forces the other players to either “call” against your additional contribution, raise the stakes higher, or simply bow out.

You make a “fold” when you “bow out”. After looking at the proceedings around the pot, if you feel that the other players are apparently playing from a position of strength; and that perhaps your cards won’t support you any further, you can take the decision to drop out of the current hand. The worst that you lose in such a position is whatever you had put in the pot before then.

The second stage of the game is played between those who haven’t folded. First, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is historically known as the “burn” card. Now, the dealer deals (“flops”) three cards face up in the middle of the table. These are community cards used by all players. The players use these three cards in tandem with their pocket cards to assess their new level of strength, vis-à-vis the competition.

Another round of betting/raising/folding takes place. People either stay in the game, raise the stakes, or get out. The tension becomes palpable.

The dealer again burns another card. A sixth card is flipped on the table; this is the “turn” card. The merry-go-round of judging one’s relative strength in the light of the turn card takes place once again.

A final community card is now dealt by the dealer. This is called the “River”. The remaining players, all strung up after having betted and/or raised so far are by now at the edge of the seat. The merry-go-round now is the last such round. Whew!

Now is the time for all the good fellas and gals to reveal what they were hiding all along – their pocket cards. Who wins? The player whose hand – two pockets + four community – is the best amongst all gets the pot. Hooray!

So, you see, the game is quite simple. There are of course, variants to the game, which are again equally easy to understand. It is playing such a simple game that people who were nobody just a while ago have become millionaires. Entire careers are now fashioned around poker in general, and Texas Hold’em in particular.

If you are not already jostling in the crowd of wannabes; ask yourself, introspect. Do you have it in you? If you are not sure of yourself, there are quite a few online gaming sites where you can try your hand using play-money. After looking at your results, you can decide to move up ahead.

Perhaps the world of poker is waiting for you. The arc lights, the name, the fame, the one-week cruise aboard the Oosterdam, that interview with Conan O’Brien on the NBC Show – all and more await you.

Call, Raise – or Fold. The choice is yours.