The Basics of No Limit Hold’em

Every hand starts with two players posting the blinds, one player posts the big blind which is equal to the minimum bet according to the table stakes and the player to his right posts the small blind, which is half the value of the big blind. Everyone takes it in turns to post the big and small blind and they do so in clockwise order around the table.

A 52 card deck is shuffled and every player is dealt two cards face down, these are called your hole cards.

A round of betting then starts with the player to the left of the big blind, this is called the pre flop round. Players can call, which means to match the minimum bet, raise which means to increase it or fold, which means to discard their hand for this round. The big blind is the only player who is forced to bet each round. If at any time the rest of the table has folded, the last player in the pot is declared the winner.

After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to prevent anyone accidentally seeing the next card in advance from the top of the deck.

Then three cards are placed face up on the table, this is called the flop. These three cards are communal and everyone uses the three on the table combined with the two in their hand to make a five card poker hand.

The player to the left of the dealer or ‘button’ then begins another round of betting.

After this round of betting, the dealer discards another burn card and places a fourth card on the table known as the “turn”.

The player to the left of the dealer or ‘button’ then begins another round of betting.

The dealer burns one final card and deals the last card, known as the “river”.

The player to the left of the dealer or ‘button’ then begins the final round of betting.

When the final round of betting is complete, we have the showdown and everybody shows their hand, with the player to the left of the last player to call first to show their hand. The player who has the highest ranking hand from a combination of their two hole cards and five communal cards is declared the winner.

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