“It takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master”
Texas Hold’em took the world by storm and is played by more players than any other form of poker.
The game is very easy to learn, but to master it and to become a long-term winning player you need the right poker strategy.
Purpose of this article is to explain you the rules and to show you how to win at Texas Hold’em.
The Rules of Texas Hold’em
The Blinds
Before the first hand is dealt, the two players to the left of the dealer button have to put the blinds.
The blinds are mandatory bets, which are an incentive to keep the game going. After each hand the dealer moves the button clockwise to ensure fairness.
Preflop
The game starts with every player being dealt two cards, so-called hole cards, face down.
This is followed by the first round of betting called “Preflop”, where you have three options: Check, Bet or Fold.
The Flop
As soon as all players have made their decision, the dealer puts the first three community cards, which can be used by all players, face up in the middle of the table. This is called the flop.
The Turn
Followed by another round of betting. Then a fourth community card is dealt called the turn.
The River
After all player have made their bets the last community card called the river is revealed and a final round of betting takes place.
The Showdown
After the river is dealt every player can use the best 5 out of a total of 7 cards (2 hole cards + 5 community cards) to form their best 5-card poker hand.
Please Note: A 5-card poker hand can be formed by using both, one or none of your hole cards!
At the showdown all players still in the hand have to show their hole cards and the best hand wins the pot, according to the Poker Hand Raking:
How to win at Texas Hold’em Poker?
As mentioned in the introduction Texas is a game that takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master.
However, there are some basic and simple rules, which will give you a huge advantage over your opponents.
Below are 3 Golden Tips that will help you to quickly become a winning player:
1. Play tight-aggressive and only strong starting hands
The most important advice for beginners is to select your starting hands carefully and not to play too many hands!
By playing only the best 15% – 20% of starting hands you have a huge range advantage against your opponents going into the flop. When you play tight preflop, you will have easier decisions and make stronger hands postflop.
When you play a hand, then play it aggressively by betting and raising. Avoid limping and slowplaying. Aggression is one of the keys to success in Texas Hold’em Poker, especially in 6-max and Heads-Up games.
2. Play your good hands in Position
Texas Hold’em is a position game and the importance of position can’t be overstated!
That means, you should always try to play your strong hands in position as it gives you a lot of information about the strength of your opponents hands.
Avoid playing marginal hands out of position as this gives good players the chance to take advantage and exploit you.
3. Never play over your limits and practice Bankroll Management
Having a good Bankroll Management is one of the most important factors, if you want to be a successful poker player.
You should have 30 – 50 buy-ins for a cash game limit to play it safely and 100 buy-ins for tournaments or in other words never invest more than about 1% of your bankroll in a poker tournament.
By following the above rules you secure your bankroll and ensure long-term success!
Why you should learn Texas Hold’em at 888poker
888poker is a fantastic site to play Texas Hold’em and we highly recommend it for beginners.
The reason is that they are offering a huge variety of games and limits both on their real money and playmoney client.
You can hit the real money tables straight away and risk-free as 888poker is offering an industry-leading No Deposit Bonus of $88 just for signing up, no deposit needed! (T&C Apply)
Both are excellent options to learn the game and to adapt to the rules and gameplay of Texas Hold’em without having to risk your own money.
As soon as you make your first profits you should make a deposit though as 888poker is offering a great first deposit bonus of 100% up to $400 plus free tickets to their depositor poker freerolls.
Advantages of playing Texas Hold’em at 888poker
We have summed up the reasons why you should play Texas Hold’em at 888 below:
- Fantastic promotions and poker bonuses
- Great traffic and variety of poker games
- One of the softest poker sites due to the focus on recreational players
- A superb tournament schedule with massive Guarantees
- Lots of qualifiers for big poker tournaments around the world
