Things You'll Need:
- A deck of playing cards
- Poker chips, beans, whatever for betting
- Friends to play with you
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Step 1
Hole CardsThe Basics
Texas Hold'em (both limit and no-limit varieties) use the same hand rankings found in the other poker games. If you don't know those, I'll touch on them in the next step.
No-limit means that there is no limit to the amount of the bet you can make. You can even go "all in" which means that you are betting your entire stack of chips.
The game starts with two cards being dealt face-down to each player at the table. In a set order, players bet based on the strengths of their hands. If a player raises the bet by betting more than the other players who have already placed their bets, then each of the other players must match (or 'see') the raise to continue playing. Any player could also re-raise by not only matching the raise but betting even more. In this case the process continues until everyone has met the highest bet. If you have done so and do not wish to raise, you may "check" or "knock the table" to end your turn.
After the first round of bets, three cards are dealt face-up to the center of the table. This is called "the Flop". The cards in the center of the table are shared among all of the players. It is your job to combine your two cards with three of those cards to make the best possible hand. Another round of betting like the first proceeds.
After the second round of betting, one more card is dealt face-up to the center of the table. This is called "the Turn". Again, another round of betting proceeds.
Finally, a the fifth card is dealt face-up to the center of the table. This is called "the River". The final round of betting proceeds.
After the final round of betting once the highest bet has been matched, each player reveals their cards and the player or players with the best hands (highest cards) win. If more than one player wins, the players divide the pot.
If at any time you no longer wish to continue betting, you may "fold" your cards and quit the hand. -
Step 2
Poker Hands
These poker hands are valid and list in order from best to worst.
Royal Flush
Five cards A,K,Q,J,10 all of the same suit
Straight Flush
Five cards in numerical order (i.e. 6,7,8,9,10) of the same suit
Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same number (i.e. Q,Q,Q,Q) plus any other card
Full House
Three cards of the same number (i.e. 10,10,10) plus two cards of the same number (i.e. J,J)
Flush
Five cards of the same suit regardless of their number
Straight
Five cards in numerical order (i.e. 8,9,10,J,Q) regardless of their suit
Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same number plus two other cards
Two Pair
Two cards of the same number plus another two cards of the same number plus any other card
One Pair
Two cards of the same number plus any three other cards
Highest Card
The hand does not match the ones above and is judged based on its single highest number card.
Like in other poker games, if there is a tie, then the "kicker" card breaks the tie. This card is the highest of the other cards in your hand. -
Step 3
Examples of Table PositionBlinds and Order of Play
Blinds insure that at least two people bet each turn. These are the minimum bets that must be made to stay in the hand.
There are two types of blinds. One is called the "Big Blind" and the other the "Small Blind" which is half the Big Blind.
One person is designated "Dealer". The person paying the small blind sits to the left of the dealer. The person paying the big blind sits to the left of the person paying the small blind. After each hand, the position of the dealer moves left one person around the table, pushing the blinds left along with it.
Note that if everyone checks on the first round of bets, then the person paying the big blind does not need to bet again unless there was a raise, and the person paying the small blind only needs to bet half of the big blind.
Finally, the first person to bet during a hand is the person to the left of the big blind and the last person to bet is the dealer. It can be advantageous to be the last person betting.
Note that the blinds are only payed at the start of each hand and not the start of each round of betting. -
Step 4
Betting Strategies
You may wonder how much to bet initially before the Flop. This depends on many factors including your reputation and the strength of your first two cards. By reputation, I mean whether people anticipate you to bluff. In any case, if you have a "pocket pair" which is two cards of the same number, then you might increase your bet to be greater than the big blind. Other reasonable cards might be "suited connectors" which are two cards of the same suit and in numerical order (like 4-hearts, 5-hearts). This gives you a chance at either a flush, straight, or straight flush. Some people like to bet big when they have and ace and a king (known as "Big Slick") as their hole cards. However, having these cards does not guarantee you a win.
Regardless of the hand you have, it is seldom a good idea to give a small initial bet or to simply check if you are in the big blind. You are said to "limp in" and this gives other players at the table a free or low cost look at the Flop. If you make a reasonable first bet, others may fold their hands, meaning less competition for you. After the Flop occurs, someone may have a better hand and will start betting more.
After the Flop, you may have a better hand than you did when you started. For instance, you might have 3,4 in your hand and then have 7,J,A on the table. Notice that if there was a 6 on the table, then you would have a straight. This is called a "gut shot straight", meaning you might get a 6 on the Turn or the River to complete your straight. You can increase your bet based on this chance, but you should be prepared to bluff or fold if it doesn't come.
Sometimes it is difficult to know how much to raise or bet. If you make too low of a bet then it is cheap for people to match it. You should consider the strength of your bet relative to the amount of money already in the pot. If you bet 100 and the pot is already 10,000 then that is a weak bet; it only costs the others 100 for a chance to win 10,000.
One betting strategy is called "slow playing". This is when you actually have a pretty good hand but you want to "hook" other players into betting more so that you can get more for the win. If you bet too much, then you might scare away your prey. So, you actually bet less like you don't have a good hand. Then, when the other players have bet so much that it is hard for them to fold, you can pounce with a larger bet. -
Step 5
Folding
No one likes to admit defeat. However, sometimes it is better to fold your hand instead of continuing to play a bad hand. As your deciding whether to fold, consider the amount of the current bets, the size of the pot, and the amount you have already bet during the hand. It may make since given these factors to simply return your cards to the dealer and wait until the next hand.
One sure way to know whether you should consider folding is if you are simply calling other player's bets and not raising the bets yourself. Unless you are slow playing on purpose, you may not have a good hand and would do well to fold. -
Step 6
Recommended House Rules
When you play at home, you can set the amount of the blinds, how often they change, the buy-in to play, and the payouts for the players. I found these recommendations at www.homepokertourney.com which I linked below.
The big blinds can go 10, 30, 40, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1600, and 2000. For a game lasting 5-6 hours, increase the blinds every 30 minutes. For a game lasting 3-4 hours, increase the blinds every 20 minutes.
If you have poker chips, you can give each person 20 red (5$), 16 green ($25), and 5 black ($100) chips. Alternatively, you can give 15 red, 13, green and 6 black or 10 red, 10 green, and 7 black. One-thousand dollars is pretty rich for a casual game among friends. So, you can set a buy-in to start the tournament at something reasonable and then split the money at then end of the night.
For instance, if you have 10 players, each can pay $20 to play for a total of $200. At the end of the night, first place gets 50% or $100, second place gets 30% or $60, and third place get 20$ or $40.
