Playing a Game of Texas Hold'em

Texas Hold'em is an extremely popular poker variant. It is an example of community card poker, and often, when the word "poker" is mentioned, it is this specific poker game that comes to mind. This game was featured in the 2006 Bond blockbuster and Daniel Craig vehicle, "Casino Royale," as well as in 1998 movie, "Rounders," starring Edward Norton and Matt Damon. Doyle Brunson -author of one of the first ever poker strategy books to hit the bookshelves and the bestseller lists- "Super/System," called Texas Hold'em the "Cadillac of Poker."

In Texas Hold'em, each player is dealt and incomplete hand of two cards. These cards are called "hole" cards or "pocket" cards, and the player is supposed to keep these cards concealed. As with all poker games, players compete for the pot, which is an amount of money that the players themselves have contributed and pooled together over the course of the game. After a round of betting, five "community" cards are laid face-down on the table and revealed in a particular sequence, interspersed by betting rounds. The last action in a hand of any poker game is called the showdown, and during a showdown, all of the remaining players -if there is more than one- reveal their hands, and the one with the best hand is awarded the pot for that hand.

Unlike in other poker games, where each player gets a complete five-card hand that they usually conceal and can use at their own discretion according to the rules of each individual game, community cards in Texas Hold'em are available for all of the other players to see. They are to be used by all of the players on the table. A player is supposed to be able to form a complete five-card hand with their hole cards and the community cards, usually with the best combination possible between these seven cards. One of the interesting things about Texas Hold'em is that since all of the community cards are visible to all of the players, during the showdown where the hole cards are revealed, the players themselves do not necessarily have to designate which of the community cards they have chosen for their hand. The other players and the dealer -if the game is being played in a casino or cardroom- will be able to discern for themselves which three of the five community cards create the best possible combination with an individual player's own pocket cards.

This particular poker variant is considered a "thinking man's game," and is one of the best poker games for strategic and mathematical analysis, since only two of the cards in each player's hand are hidden. A player cannot control the cards -which are dealt randomly- but they can control the amounts of money that they can contribute to the pot, and what kinds of decisions to make so that their long-term winnings are maximized.