Texas Hold’em Basics: Here’s the Deal

Date: 2005.02.28 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

Texas Hold’em poker takes five minutes to learn but a lifetime to master — so says traditional thinking. From the outset, it appears simple: After the four rounds of betting are complete, each player forms the best possible five-card hand by selecting three cards from the five “shared” community cards and his or her two hidden “hole” cards.

Granted, there’s a little more to the game than that.

First, we determine whose deal it is (it’s the player left of the last dealer), and award that person the white round plastic “dealer’s button.” Then the person to the left of the button posts the “small blind” required bet and the person two to the left of the button posts the “big blind,” which is almost always set at double the amount of the small blind. (By the way, blind size determines the betting level of the game.)