Online Texas Hold 'Em Poker

Texas Hold 'Em Game

Texas Hold ‘Em is a poker game in which each player receives 2 cards (hole cards) dealt face down, while 5 cards (community cards) are dealt face up on the table. All players play with their best 5 cards in any combination of their 2 down cards and the 5 common cards on the table. The best five-card poker hand wins.

Players usually use one or both of their hole cards to make their best hand. However, this is not required. A player may even choose to play just the community cards and use no hole cards at all. Identical five-card hands split the pot; the sixth and seventh cards are not used to break ties.

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Texas Hold 'Em Poker - Betting Rounds

A disk called the button marks the dealer in Texas Hold ’Em Poker. For each hand, the button rotates to the left. Players are identified by their seat position. The dealer is seat one, the player to the dealer’s left is seat two and so on, clockwise around the table to the player on the dealer’s right, which is typically seat nine providing the table is full.

In practice, Texas Hold ’Em Poker has a fixed (house) dealer and the button rotates around the table simply to mark the rotation of the theoretical dealer.

Texas Hold ’Em Poker uses two forced bets, the blinds, to get bets on the table right from the beginning of the game. Before the cards dealt, the first two players to the left of the dealer position are required to post blind bets. Blinds are real bets and to enter the pot, a player in the blind position needs only to make up the difference, if any, between their blind and the current bet. In addition, players in the blinds have the option of raising when the betting round comes back to them, even if there has not been a previous raise. A small blind is half of the lower limit of the table limit and a big blind is the full value of the lower limit of the table limit.

The deal rotates clockwise around the table beginning with the player to the big blind’s left. Each player is dealt their first “pocket” card in turn and then their second “pocket” or “hole” card is dealt. Once the blinds have opened with their forced bets, the player to the big blind’s left, bets first. This player can call by matching the big blind or raise. The betting round continues around the table. The next 3 cards are then dealt and called "flop cards". These cards are community cards and used by all players in the hand. The betting round continues around the table. The 4th card for the table, the "turn card", is dealt. The betting round continues around the table. The final card is called the “river card". The betting round continues around the table. The "turn" and "river" cards are also community cards used by all players in the hand. When all bets are completed, the showdown takes place between remaining players, where the winner is declared. A player uses his best five cards from his pocket cards and the community cards to determine his hand, see Winning Hands. Identical five-card hands split the pot; the sixth and seventh cards are not used to break ties.

Check and Raise are allowed in all games. The maximum allowable wager is always indicated on the Bet prompt and the lowest allowable wager is the default in the Bet window. Our game imposes a maximum number of raisesallowable raise during a betting round. Currently that limit is four (we assume a bet counts as one raise), and we reserve the right to change that number at any time.

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All-In
During a limit poker betting round, each player that wants to stay in the hand is required to call the previous bet. There are times, however, when a player may not have enough chips remaining at the table to call the previous bet. In addition, the player could have enough to call but not enough to raise the required amount. If the players doplayer does not have enough to call, they have two options; Fold or All-In. If the player has enough to call but not enough to raise, they have three options; Fold, Call or All-In. In either case, if the player decides to go All-In, they simply bet all of their remaining chips and from that point until the end of the hand the player is said to be “All-In”. The All-In player is allowed to finish the current hand and they simply sit and wait for the hand to end. A player who is All-In cannot be forced out of the pot, but can only win that portion of the pot that they are eligible for. A side pot for extra bets is created. See Side Pots for more explanation.

Side Pots
Normally at the end of each betting round in a game of Poker, all of the chips that each player has bet are moved to the center of the table and added to the pot. However this will not do when one or more players have gone All-In. Player(s) can go All-In when they do not have enough chips to call the previous bet and as a result it is necessary to use side pots in order equitably manage the process of distributing the correct amount of chips to the winner(s).

Method for determining side pot(s) at then end of a betting round when one or more players have gone All-In:

1. Determine the amount of each All-In bet (if there is more than one)
2. Select the amount of the smallest All-In bet (if there is more than one)
3. Deduct that amount from all the bets and add it to the current pot
4. Close the current pot and move it off to the side (as a side pot)
5. Start a new current pot
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 if there are more All-In bets
7. Move the remaining bets to the current pot
8. If a side pot has only one player, the chips are returned to the player

Players that have contributed to a given side pot are eligible to win that side pot. Players that have not contributed to a given side pot are not eligible to win that side pot.

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Player Timeouts

Player Timeouts are a necessary part of online Poker; without them any given player could stall the game indefinitely. During a single hand of Poker, each player is given a reasonable number of seconds to bet. If time expires and the game server has not received a response from the active player, then the players hand will be folded. Timeouts are typically 20 to 30 seconds.

Texas Hold 'Em Winning Hands

Royal Flush
This is a straight flush with an Ace as the high card.

Straight Flush
A straight with all five cards of the same suit, which does not include an Ace

Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same rank, i.e. 4 Aces

Full House
Any three cards of one rank plus any two cards of another rank makes a full house.

Flush
Five cards of the same suit.

Straight
A hand with five consecutive cards like 2,3,4,5,6. An Ace can be high or low. When you compare two players with a straight, the straight with the highest card in it wins.

Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same rank.

Two Pair
Any two cards of one rank plus two cards of another rank.

Pair
Two cards of the same rank.

Highest Card

If there is nothing better, the highest card wins. If there is more than one player with the same hand, the five highest cards that play is the winning hand.

Here are some examples: If two players have a similar high flush, the highest card not being held in common wins, i.e.: a 9,7,5,3,2 flush beats a 9,6,5,3,2 flush. If the highest hand is the board (i.e. the community hand on the table), then the players that have not folded split the pot. If player one is playing an Ace-Jack, and player two is playing an Ace-10, and the board cards come Ace, two, two, five, six, both players have two pair but player one would win because he has a better "kicker". The "kicker" is the highest hand unpaired card that plays and adds to the strength of your hand.

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