Texas Holdem Poker Rules |
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| Texas Holdem |
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Unique Features of Texas Hold'em |
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Hold'em has a small number of starting hands.
Only 169 unique starting hands exist since many of the initial two-card combinations are equivalent. All suits are considered equal, so hands such as A♣ J♠ and A♥ J♦ are the same, and likewise, suited combinations such as A♣ J♣, A♥ J♥ are also equivalent hands.
Hold'em is a fixed position game.
Position refers to the order in which players act in a round of betting. During a Hold'em hand, your position does not change. The small blind always acts first, the big blind second, the player to the left of the big blind next, and so on. In stud games, position changes as the cards are dealt since the player with the highest exposed cards acts first. Position is important because in all forms of poker, it is advantageous to act last in a round of betting. Your position at the start of a hand of Hold'em stays the same for all four rounds of betting, conferring either a permanent advantage or disadvantage.
In Hold'em, it is possible to have the nuts.
The nuts is the highest possible hand that can be formed with a given set of community cards. For example, if you hold K♠ K♣, and the board has K♥ 10♦ 7♠ 5♣ 2♥ , you can bet and raise to the maximum, knowing that you cannot be beat. No straights or flushes can be formed from this board, and, without a pair, neither can a full house or four of a kind. Your three Kings are the nuts. Suppose instead, with the same hand, K♠ K♣, the board has A♣ A♠ K♥ 7♥ 3♣. Even though you have a much higher hand than in the previous situation (Kings full with Aces), you can be beat. Someone holding A♥ wins with Aces full, but K♣ that is not the nuts. In this case, the nuts is A♣ A♥.
In Hold'em, the highest ranking hand wins.
The winner takes all the pot. It is not a split-pot game like some variations of poker. Split pots in Hold'em occur only if two or more players have identical high hands at the showdown.
