How to Play Texas Holdem

Here are the basic rules of how to play Texas Holdem:

• A white disk, known as the button, designates the dealer for the specific hand.
• The dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand.
• In every hand, before the cards are dealt, the first two players sitting to the left of the dealer must make forced bets. These are known as the blinds. The first player is the small blind and the second player is the big blind, who bets twice as much as the small blind.  These bets build the pot.
• All players are dealt two cards face down, and then there is a round of betting. The betting begins with the player after the big blind.
• Once the first round of betting is complete, three community cards are spread face up in the middle of the table. This is known as the flop.
• After the flop, a second round of betting begins. The first player still in the hand to the left of the dealer starts the betting.
• After the betting is complete one more community card, called the turn, is placed face up in the middle of the table.
• Then, a third round of betting begins. Once the betting is complete, one last common card is placed in the middle of the table, face up. This is called the river.
• After the forth (and final) round of betting, all players still in the game turn their cards face up.
• The winner is the player that can make the best poker hand out of any combination of the two cards in his hand and the five common cards on the table.
• That player wins all the chips in the pot.