texas holdem

Betting structures
Texas Hold'em is played using big and small blind bets, forced by two players.
Antes may be used in addition to blinds in later stages of the play.
A dealer button is used to show which player is on dealer position. The aim of the dealer button is to change the position of the dealer and blinds, like it rotates clockwise after each hand.
The small blind usually equals to the half of the big blind and is posted by the player sitting on the left side of the dealer.
The big blind is equal to the minimum bet and is posted by the player sitting to the left of the small blind.

There are many different variations of the Texas Hold'em poker. The most common ones are no-limit Hold'em, limit Hold'em and pot-limit Hold'em.

• No-limit Hold'em – this variation of the Texas Hold'em is most commonly found in televised tournament poker. This is considered to be the most professional version and is the game played in World Series of Poker (it is the main event in fact). In no-limit Hold'em the players have no limitations raising their pledges as far as they are over the minimum. If a player raises up to all his chips then his/her bet is called an all-in bet. The minimum bet is equal to the big blind. Every player wishing to re-rise his or her bet shold raise at least the amount of the bet that was previous. E.g: If the big blind is $5 and there is a bet of $15 to a total of $20, a raise must be at least $15 more for a total of $35
• Limit Hold'em – this is the most popular form of Texas hold'em worldwide as it is the variation played in most of the casinos. In this form of hold'em bets and raises in the first 2 betting rounds must be equal to the big blind (this amount is called small bet). The next to rounds of the game the bets and raises should be twice the amount of the big blind (this amount is called big bet).
• Pot-limit Hold'em – in this form of hold'em the only difference is that the maximum raise is the current size of the pot (like the amount needed to call is included ).

Play of the hand
At the beginning of the Hold'em game each player is dealt 2 face down cards - these cards are called pocket cards or hole and are the only cards each player receives individually. These cards will be revealed in the shutdown only if the player decides to play till the end of the hand – that makes Hold'em a closed game.
The first betting round of the hand is called "pre-flop", beginning with the player to the left of the big blind or with the player to the left of the dealer in case no blinds are used. The round continues clockwise. Each player can either fold, match the amount put in by all other players or put in all of his/her chips.
If two or more players remain after the pre-flop betting round the dealer deals a 3 cards. This...