Texas hold’em – rules and stages of bidding

In this article, we will try to understand the basic rules and stages of Texas Hold’em trading. We will learn what preflop and flop, turn and river are. Let’s try to understand what actions the player should take at each of the listed stages of the game, what should be paid special attention to in a given situation.

To date, it is Texas Hold’em that is the most popular version of poker in offline and online modes. Almost 90 percent of all poker players play it. Note that the main discipline of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) – the most popular poker tournament in the world – is Texas Hold’em. The popularity of this logic game in the literal sense of the word cannot be overestimated. As in any other important business, there are rules of the game, tactics and strategies. Many players have their own secrets and style of play. But today we will talk about the four stages of trading in Texas Hold’em and their charters. Preflop in Texas Hold’em – Preflop Preflop in Texas Hold’em is the initial stage of the game or the first round of betting. In actual translation from English, it denotes the moment before turning over. At this stage, two players located to the left of the Button – the button – that is, the participant with the dealer’s chip, make obligatory blind bets in order – the big blind – big blind and the small blind – small blind, which is translated from English – big blind and small blind, so it’s almost verbatim here. This forms the initial bank of the game. In the process, it will increase, get the whole bank – this is, in fact, the goal of a player set to win. Note that Button – the button will change with each new distribution of cards – the position of the dealer passes from player to player clockwise. At the same time, those participants who must make blinds also change. It turns out that each of the players will be able to be the button and make the big and small blinds. So, preflop, each participant at the table receives two closed (issued face down) cards – they are called the “hand”. The first round begins. By looking at their cards, the player can already weigh their chances of improving the hand and winning, respectively. Now you can call or raise, fold or check. All actions on the preflop, the players perform strictly in order, namely clockwise. And the first move, so to speak, must be made by the player whose place at the table is immediately to the left of the participant who made the big blind bet. This round or stage of the game is considered completed when each of the players at the poker table made a decision and took the appropriate action – and those who did not fold their cards (did not pass) equalized their bets to the maximum. Even in the preflop, the winner can be determined – perhaps this is in a situation where his bet was not called by anyone and the opponents threw off their cards, thereby refusing to bet and continue the game. The bank goes to the winner. Flop in Texas Hold’em – Flop The flop in Texas Hold’em is the second round of betting. Here passions begin to heat up – three common cards appear on the table, so to speak. And according to the translation, Flop means to turn over, these cards are placed face up – turned over so that everyone can see their face value. It is on the flop that players can very successfully strengthen their initial hand – those two cards received in the preflop, and understand which combination is now available to them, how strong it is and what chances it gives to win. The round begins with the non-passing participants taking actions (betting) clockwise in strict order, starting with the participant who sits immediately to the left of the button. In the event that the first (to the left) of the dealer folds and folds, the turn passes to the player following him. Just like in the preflop round, players can bet, raise it, check – accept the bet and make a pass – fold their cards. As soon as the highest bet is equalized by each of the remaining participants, the flop stage is considered completed. In the event that none of the players answered the high bet of one of the participants, he remains the winner and takes the pot. Turn in Texas Hold’em – Turn (Turn) in Texas Hold’em is the fourth stage of the game, in which the fourth open card appears on the table, so to speak. Now the player can collect his full-fledged combination (recall that the combination consists of five cards) from six available cards. This round often becomes a turning point, by the way, the word “turn” is translated from English as a turn, and by the appearance of the fourth card there are few participants in the game. The rules on the turn are the same as in the previous round – that is, on the flop. River in Texas Hold’em – The River River in Texas Hold’em is the final round of betting. The fifth community card appears on the table, now the players have seven to choose from – two in each hand and five open community cards. At this stage, participants make their bets for the last time before making a showdown – that is, to open (open / show) their cards. On the river, all players will see what their opponents have collected. It will become clear who won – we recall that the player with the most successful, strong combination wins. As for the showdown order, the showdown begins with the player who made the last bet in the round, and if there is no such person – let’s say no one at the table made bets at this stage, then the first word goes to the one sitting to the left of the dealer (everything clockwise). The leader is determined and he gets the bank, but sometimes a situation may arise in which two participants have absolutely equivalent combinations – then the bank is divided into two. Summing up, by and large, the rules of Texas Hold’em trading can be mastered by everyone, if only his desire was strong. There are four main rounds in this game – they are preflop, flop, turn and river in the appropriate order. Each player has an equal chance to collect the strongest five-card hand from the seven available cards – two of which are originally received by the player (closed) and five common cards open to all participants. Texas Hold’em, like all poker in general, loves restraint, mathematics and logic. There are obligatory bets in this type of poker – blind – we are talking about two types of blinds: a big one, which is usually equal to the size of the bet, and a small blind – most often equal to half the big one. They are committed without fail by two participants to the left of the button. The position of the button, as well as the position of the blinds, passes clockwise to new players during the game. The most important stage of Texas Hold’em is the River, which is translated from English as a river, and here the current brings the fifth open card to the table, which completely clarifies the situation with the collected combinations of players – they go in the following order (in ascending order) – High card, Pair, Two Pair, Three of a Kind or Set, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush and Royal Flush.