Learn How to Play Poker - An Overview

Today we’re going to learn how to play texas holdem poker. If you’ve never played poker before, you’ve come to the right place. This video is designed to teach the absolute beginner how to play texas holdem, starting from the absolute basics. We’re going to learn to play via online poker although this guide will teach you how to play both online and real life poker. Online poker is where most players get their start these days and is by far the best place to practice and refine your skills.

There are 2 main types of texas holdem – limit and no limit. It doesn’t really matter at the learning stages of poker, but for arguments sake, today we’re going to focus on the more popular version - no limit holdem.

The first thing you need to be aware of is the different hand combinations that you can get – or simply put - what beats what. We’ll start from best to worst.

The best possible hand you can get in poker is the Royal Flush. The royal flush is the grand daddy of them all. It only comes around once in a blue moon and if you’re ever lucky enough to actually get this hand you can be sure that you have the strongest hand at the table. The Royal Flush is made up of 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit.

The next best hand is the Straight Flush. A straight flush is made up of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. They can be any 5 consecutive cards – 2 through 6, 9 through K – as long as they are all the same suit.

The next best hand is 4 of a Kind. This one’s easy – any 4 cards of the same denomination. Ie – 9, 9, 9, 9 or J, J, J, J.

After 4 of a kind comes the Full House. A full house is made up of 2 cards of the same value and 3 cards of the same value.

The next best hand is a Fush. A flush is made up of any 5 cards of the same suit. Your flush could be made up of 7, 2, J, 6, K or 10, J, Q, 6, 7. If both players have a flush, the player with the highest card in their flush wins the pot

The next best poker hand is the Straight. You can have a straight by having 5 cards of any suit in numerical order. For instance 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 made up of any suit.

After the straight, we have 3 of a Kind. As the name suggests, 3 of a kind is 3 cards of the same value. For instance J, J, J, 3, 7.

The next best hand in poker is 2 Pair. 2 pair is pretty self explanatory – you basically have 2 pairs. Ie – 5, 5, K, K, 7. If 2 players both have 2 pair, the player with the highest pair wins.

After 2 pair comes 1 Pair. 1 pair is very common in poker and you should be wary about playing a hand with a low pair.

The final hand you can have in poker is the High Card. If no one at the table manages to make any of the hands I’ve already mentioned, then the player with the highest card wins.

Now you know what beats what, it’s time to learn how the poker table works. Poker is played with anywhere from 2 to 10 players at a table. There are 3 main positions at the table, these are known as the dealer, the small blind and the big blind. The dealer is most powerful position at the table, because they have to act last and get to see what everyone else does before they make their move. The small blind sits to the immediate left of the dealer and before any cards are dealt, has to put into the pot what is known at the small blind (I’ll explain blinds in just a moment). The big blind is to the left of the small blind and has to put what’s known as the big blind into the pot before any cards are dealt.

What are blinds? Blinds are compulsory bets that you have to put into the pot before any cards are dealt to any of the players at the table. The blinds are designed to get some money in the pot and to encourage action. The big blind is usually double the small blind. All the positions at the table rotate one position clockwise at the end of each hand.

After the blinds have been placed into the pot, each player is dealt 2 cards face down. These cards are known as hole cards, or pocket cards. You are the only one who sees these cards. After you have your hole cards, the player to the left of the big blind is first to act and has 3 choices – they can either fold – muck their cards - throw them away without putting any money into the pot – they can call – which is put into the pot exactly the same amount as the largest bet at the time (this is called “seeing” the bet) – or they can raise – which is where they put in more than the highest bet at the time. Every player at the table hasthe same 3 options.

You can fold, call or raise based on the strength of your hole cards – we’ll cover this stage in another video.

After the first round of betting is complete, the dealer deals 3 cards face up in the center of the table. These 3 cards are known as the flop. This is where things really start to get interesting. The point of texas holdem is to make the best 5 card hand possible. You can use both, one or neither of your hole cards to make the best possible hand. After the flop has been dealt, there is another round of betting, starting with the small blind.

After everyone has finished betting, there is another card dealt face up, this card is called the turn. Then, there is another round of betting.

This is followed by the fifth and final community card being dealt face up in the center of the table, this card is called the river. This is followed by the final round of betting.

If, after this, there are any players left, they must turn over their cards to see who has the best hand. This is known as the showdown. The player with the strongest hand wins the pot. If 2 or more players have the same hand, then they split the pot – also known as a chopped pot.

Now you know the basic rules of poker. Just because you know the rules, it doesn’t mean that you’re quite ready to hit the tables. You need to learn a little bit of strategy before you can play poker with any confidence. Practice, practice, practice. Move onto the next video in the series.