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Online Casinos Introduction: Texas Hold'em Poker
This introduction to online casinos moves to the games themselves. Let's start with Texas Hold'em. This is the standard poker game. When people talk about poker, more often than not they mean Hold'em.
Hold'em has become quite popular now because of the internet. Even casual players can enjoy the game since online gambling makes it easy to do. Just go to any poker room online, sign up and play on. Let's play Hold'em with betting limits, known as Limit Hold'em.
How to Play Hold'em
Hold'em can be played by up to 10 players. The goal is to either make the best poker hand or outlast everyone in the game, and win all money wagered. A hand is a set of five cards, made by combining your two private cards in any way with the five open cards on the table.
The game starts with two players making mandatory bets called blinds. Each player then gets two cards face down. Then everyone takes turns clockwise to match the mandatory bet (call), increase the bet (raise), or quit the game (fold). After that, three cards called the flop are dealt on the table. When players see these cards, they each have to decide again whether to bet, check (pass to the next player if you have no bet to answer), raise or fold. When done, a fourth card is dealt called the turn. Another betting round like the last one follows. Then a fifth card called the river is exposed. One last betting takes place. If more than one player is left, there's a showdown and the one with the better hand wins.
Hold'em is like a stage play that's divided into acts with curtains down at intervals. The flop, turn and river—the five community cards—are what decide how players are going to act in the betting rounds. If your two cards combine well with them, you bet and raise. If they don't mix well, you can fold, or you can call and check just to stay in the game hoping the next cards would be better.
If your cards are weak, you can still bet and raise as if they were strong, hoping to scare your opponents so they'll fold. If all others fold and you're left, you get the money (pot) without having to show your cards at the end of the game. This is when "bluffing" comes in.
If you have a good hand but want to keep others in the game so there'll be more money to win later, you can call and check as if you had a weak hand. This is "slow playing."
Hand Rankings
Straight Flush: Ordered cards, same suit - 3-4-5-6-7 hearts. 4 of a Kind: Identical cards - 4 aces. Full House: 3 and 2 identical cards - 3 queens, 2 fours. Flush: 5 cards, one suit - ace, 2-5-8, king clubs. Straight: 5 ordered cards. 3 of a Kind: 3 identical cards. 2 Pair: 2 and 2 identical cards - 2 jacks, 2 tens. 1 Pair: 2 identical cards High Card: Highest card in a hand - jack high in 3-6-8-9-jack.
Single Card Rankings
If there's a tie between hands, the one with the highest single card wins. Lowest to highest: 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-jack-queen-king-ace
Why It's Good to Play Hold'em
Hold'em rocks because you don't have to worry about beating the casino. A poker site gets cuts from the pots. Your only worry is your fellow human players. It's all on you. So with that, let's look at basic strategy for online Hold'em. The next online casino introduction article shows you.