Texas holdem

Texas Holdem is the most popular poker game at the moment world-wide and it shows no signs of slowing down at all, despite the anti-gambling Act recently passed by US legislators. It is the type of poker played at the WSOP and the WPT. It is also the most popular type of online poker. A representative of the community card genre, its road to success was as fast as it was spectacular.
It is usually played by two to ten players, though the 52 card deck used would allow for as many as 22 players ( even 23 if the burn-cards were not used).
The amount of money that is turned over by this poker-genre entitles it to be called a real industry.
The objective in Texas Hold'em is - quite naturally- to win money. Players can achieve that by taking the pots of different hands that are played. The pot is made up of the money put into it by all players at the table. It can be won by anyone in the game at showdown, showing the strongest hand of all, or it can also be taken by stealing the blind ( causing other players to fold before the showdown).
The way to achieve this, is to let the others know one is in possession of such a strong hand that it is a sure winner. This way, in order to try to avoid feeding further funds into the pot the other players will quit the game folding their hands.
Letting the others know about the hand one possesses is not done by showing it to them or declaring the cards, it's rather suggested by repeated raises and reraises and practically bullying them out of the pot.
Winning any single pot though is by far not enough. In Holdem many more hands are lost than won – by nature of the game - . in order to come out ahead ( win more than lose on aggregate) players need to run complex maths calculations in their minds during the game and decide what strategy to adopt accordingly. The game begins with the posting of the blinds ( or antes if they're used) and a button is used to point out the player who is in the position of the dealer. The player on the left of the button posts the small blind and the one following on to the left of the small blind posts the big blind. The big blind is usually twice the small one. The position of the button changes with every hand, in a clockwise direction, thus every player will get his/her turn posting the big and small blinds.
Position at the holdem table is something poker pros can wite article after article about. By nature of the game, being able to act before or after certain types of players, can convey a certain amount of advantage to the person who's able to make use of it. Players are genereally devided into tight and loose players ( also known as passive or aggressive). Tight players are those who tend not to trust their hand's ability to take on the opposition and thus fold all too often. Only with an extra-secura hand do these players feel confident enough to go all the way. By then though – provide the opposition has the 'read' – everybody will know that they indeed have something very solid, and most probably will fold, not feeding the pot enough for him to walk away with a substantial win.
Loose players are quite the opposite. They move in aggresively with every dime-a-dozen hand they get and try to steal the blinds from under other player's noses practically based on nothing but a Bluff. This also explain the principle of bluffing ( making others think you're moving in for the kill when you have practically nothing in the pocket).
Once figured out by the opposition loose players can end up as exceptionally good pot-feeders for those who really have the goods to make the kill.
The game itself goes down like this:
every player gets two cards dealt face down on the table ( these are also called hole-cards or pocke cards) No player will get the chance to change those two cards. The player to the left of the big blind post his/her bet and so do the others in a clock-wise direction. After the pre-flop betting round ( 'cause that's what this is called) ends, a card is burnt and then three more cards are thrown onto the table for everyone to see. These are the community cards. Every player needs to make a best possible hand with the three cards ( called the "flop") and his/her own two pocket cards. Statistically speaking a Texas Holdem game is about 70-75 percent decided once the flop is shown. The real betting however, only just commences. This is usually the time that tight players fold. If a tight doesn't fold after the flop one'd better be careful with him/her in the proceedings.
After the flop betting one more community card is shown for the remaining players. This is called "the Turn" or " 4th street" followed by another round of betting. If all but one players fold it means the single remaining player automatically takes the pot. The 5th community card ( river) signals the beginning of the end for all but the winner-to-be. This one is the last community card and the last chance for everybody to improve their hands. The round of betting following the river is the last such round followed by the "Showdown" The showdown is when remaining players show their cards and the winner is decided.
Being more of a game of skill than chance, poker has millions of fans and players, churning out all sorts of strategies for all different possible situations, world over.
Helped on by the internet, Texas Holdem seems to have embarked on an upward spiral of success and global reach. All signs point to the fact that this game has all things clicking to become the most popular card-game that ever existed.

All articles written by (c) James West.