Texas Holdem Hierarchy
The rage called Texas Hold'em Poker
One may call it the ‘new kid on the block’ but the Texas Holdem Poker has shot to fame and its popularity has only surged in the current century.
Nothing much has been documented about the invention of Texas hold 'em. The Texas State Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas as the game's birthplace. The genesis of the game, however, dates back to the early 1900s.
Sometimes referred to as the Cadillac of poker, the Texas Hold'em Poker has become the most sought after poker game across North America and Europe.
One can gauge the acceptance and craze for this new member of the poker family from the fact that the unofficial world championship of poker is contested in no limit Texas Hold'em.
Not only has Texas Hold'em Poker toppled the 7 card stud from the numero uno position in terms of popularity, it has also found room in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).
Industry experts and analysts attribute the popularity of the Texas Hold'em Poker heading north to more than one factor. The invention of online poker, the game's appearance in Hollywood as well as in the small screen and television commercials advertising online cardrooms have helped the game in no small measure.
Texas Hold'em Hand Hierarchy
The 2004–05 NHL lockout and the 2003 World Series of Poker championship victory by online qualifier Chris Moneymaker have enabled the Texas Hold'em Poker reach dizzy heights.
Texas Hold'em The type played throughout the Poker World Series, Hold'em Poker sees players dealt 2 hole cards each. While 5 community cards are placed face up on the table. All Texas Hold’em starting hands can be separated into two categories: “suited” and “offsuit”. Suited hands contain two cards of the same suit, like J♣9♣, A ♥ K ♥, K♠Q♠ and 9 ♦ 3 ♦. All other starting hands are in the offsuit category, like A♠8 ♦, 7♣5 ♥ and K ♥ 9 ♦.
The format of the Texas Hold'em wherein the player gets two cards, referred to as the hole cards, and five cards are dealt face up on the board, referred to as the community cards, provides an excellent platform for strategic and mathematical analysis that can be analyzed by tools like the Poker Odds Calculator.
Crandell Addington, a Texan gambler, who along with other card players like Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim is known to be instrumental in spreading Texas Hold'em to Las Vegas in 1967. He said of the game’s format, They didn't call it Texas hold 'em at the time, they just called it hold 'em... I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you bet only twice; hold 'em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man's game
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The hole cards are visible only to the respective players while the community cards are visible to all participants. All these cards can be used to put together a five card poker hand. The player with the highest poker hand is the winner in the Texas Hold'em Poker.
Texas Hold'em Poker follows the hand rankings, beginning from the highest to the lowest as follows: Royal Straight Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and finally One Pair.
The players have a free hand to choose from amongst the cards available and make the best hand. Two hole cards with three community cards or one hole card with four community cards or all five community cards are all acceptable combinations.
The first two players to the left of the dealer post a small and a big blind respectively even before the cards are dealt. These blinds help create a starting pot and set the ball rolling for Texas Hold'em Poker.
After the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt two hole cards. The first betting round takes place, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind.
After the first betting round is finished, three of the five community cards are dealt. These are called the flop. The second betting round ensues, beginning with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.
Post the second betting round, the fourth community card, called the Turn (Fourth Street), is dealt. Thereafter, the third round of betting takes place.
The fourth and last betting round takes place after the fifth and last community card called the river (Fifth Street) is dealt.
The rules of the Texas Hold'em Poker entail that if more than one player remains in the hand after the betting rounds are over, there is a showdown.
The structure of the Texas Hold'em Poker is such that the position of a player assumes significant importance. Since the position remains unchanged all the way through the hand, a player that acts, rather reacts, after you will do so all the way to the river.
Needless to say, this can be a great disadvantage for you. Therefore, as a rule, play only very strong hands in early position. On the contrary, if you are in a late position, exploit the advantage to the maximum.
The Texas Hold'em is played not only as the cash or ring game but also as a tournament game. The approach and tactics for these different forms varies extensively.
Before the poker tournaments hit the circuit, the Texas Hold'em was played with real money with players betting actual currency or chips. The game was and is still played with both the no-limit and fixed-limit versions.
Since the size of the bets is restricted in limit games, the ability to bluff gets diminished. At the same time, players can be advised to take more chances in this format since they are not risking all of one's chips in limit poker.
In a tournament, the players gain entry with the help of a 'buy-in'. All players start with an identical value of chips. Play continues till only one player has accumulated all the chips in play.
The amount of chips one has, the amount of chips others have, at what stage is the tournament and the playing styles of one's opponents are some of the factors that have to be considered while devising one’s strategy for the Texas Hold'em poker tournament.
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