So you're new to Texas Holdem Poker? Not a problem. Texas Holdem poker is by far the best game for a beginner to learn. Other poker games like Omaha or 7 Card Stud need a higher understanding of calculating odds and card counting. Texas Holdem can be learned in a few minutes and you can be playing fairly well with a few hours of practice. Online poker rooms offer a wide variety of play money tables where beginners may practice for free until they are ready to move up to the fun at real money tables. I recommend playing online to start because online poker rooms handle many tedious details, like dealing, shuffling, and determining who has the best hand. However, in order to learn the game there is a few steps to you need to know.
Depending on the limit and betting structure, players will place out blinds and antes so there is an initial amount to get things started, this is called posting. The dealer shuffles up a standard deck of fifty two cards. Each player is dealt two private cards face down. These are called your hole cards or pocket cards. Then there is a round of betting starting with the player to the left of the blinds, this is the pre-flop betting round. Like most games of poker, players can call, raise, or fold. 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 cheating.
The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table, this is called the flop. These are communal cards that anyone can use in combination with their two pocket cards to form a poker hand. The player to the left of the dealer starts another betting round. After the betting concludes, the dealer burns again then flips another communal card onto the table, this is called the turn. The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. In many types of games, this is where the bet size doubles.
Again, the dealer burns a card and places a final card face up on the table, this...