Texas Hold’em was born in Robstown, Texas, as its name indicates, at the beginning of the 20th century and became very popular in the US in the 60s. But it was the online Poker sites of the beginning of the 21st century that made the game the favourite of players around the world. Today, this simplified version of Poker is the one that is most common in casinos. Like the original version of the game, it is played with a deck of 52 cards, and the goal is to win your opponents’ stakes, which are symbolised by chips.
At the beginning of the game, which is played between 2 and 10 players, the Croupier will deal, to you and each of the other players, 2 face down ‘hole’ cards, which are yours and which you alone know the value of. Then the Croupier places face up in the centre of the table 5 community cards. By combining your cards with the community cards your goal is to create the strongest hand by finding the best possible combination with 5 cards maximum. Or make the other players believe that you have a better hand than them. The trick is knowing when to fold, call or raise. After a maximum four rounds of betting, the players still in contention lay their cards face up on the table. The game is won by the player with the strongest hand, or by the best bluffer if the other players folded first.
The combinations, from weakest to strongest:
When players have equal hands, the tie is broken with the Kicker. It’s the card, outside of those making up the combination, that has the highest value in each hand. The strongest wins.
For example, imagine two players have a three of a kind with Aces. If the first player’s kicker is a Jack and the second player’s is a King, the second player wins. On the other hand, if both players have an equally valuable kicker, the pot is split evenly between them.