How to Play Online Texas Holdem

How to Play Online Texas Holdem? The Rules & Strategies for Playing Online?  

Welcome to the Texas holdem poker section of our site. On this page we provide a complete guide to the game, how to play, the rules, and online versions. We also offer some observations about free games, strategy, and tips for winning. Throughout you’ll find links to other pages that cover specific subjects in greater detail.

We’re going to assume that the reader is a beginner in Online Texas Holdem and is starting from scratch. This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing in this section to help the intermediate or advanced player. If you already understand something we’ve covered here, just skip past it and move on to something you do need to understand.

How to Play Online Texas Holdem

Texas holdem is one of a number of poker games called “community” poker games. In a community poker game, each player receives a certain number of cards, and each player also shares several community cards which are dealt in the middle of the table. In this specific game, you get 2 cards face down, and 5 cards are spread out in the middle of the table.

You can use any combination of the 2 cards in your hand and the 5 cards on the board in order to create the best possible 5 card poker hand. Rounds of betting take place during certain parts of the deal, which happen in stages, and the player who hasn’t folded and has the best hand at the end wins the money in the pot.

Other community card games that are related to Texas holdem include Omaha, Omaha 8, Pineapple, and Crazy Pineapple. The main differences between Texas holdem and these other community card games is the number of cards dealt to each player-in Omaha you get 4 “hole cards”, and in Pineapple you get 3.

Rounds of Betting in Online Texas Holdem

Opening deal – Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.

Pocket Cards

First round of betting in Online Texas Holdem – Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.

The flop – The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards in Online Texas Holdem are referred to as the flop, while all of the community cards are collectively called the board.

Second round of betting – Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.

The turn – The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as the turn card, or fourth street.

Third round of betting – It follows the same format as the second round, but the size of the bets have usually doubled in limit games.

The river – The dealer burns another card in Online Texas Holdem, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as the river card, or fifth street.

Final round of betting – It follows the same format as the second and third rounds.

The showdown – Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand in Online Texas Holdem wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands.)

How to play Texas Holdem poker: before you begin

You’ll find our guide to playing a game of Online Texas Holdem below, including the aim of the game, your betting options and a step-by-step guide to how the game unfolds.

However, if you’re an absolute poker beginner we would recommend checking out these pieces before you begin:

How to play Texas Holdem poker: the aim of the game

The aim of the game in Online Texas Holdem is to make the best possible decisions in terms of betting to ensure you win as many chips as possible over multiple hands.

In each hand, players attempt to create the best possible five-card hand according to the poker-hand rankings, using their two hole cards and the five community cards that are revealed as the game progresses. This results in winning the pot or total of all bets made on the hand.

Players bet based on their perception of how good their potential hand is compared to their rivals’ hands, but can also attempt to bluff opponents into withdrawing from a hand (folding) by continuing to bet despite knowing their hand isn’t necessarily a strong one.

Hands can be won after any round of betting if all bar one player folds and don’t have to continue until the final round of betting after the fifth and final community card has been dealt.

Online Texas Holdem Strategy: The 2 Golden Rules

5 Best Texas Holdem Strategy Tips are:

1. Starting with Opening Hands
The hands that you choose to go into battle with in Texas Hold’em are vital. That said, starting hands are only one part of the game. Position is a major factor when it comes to deciding which hands you should play. In general, you can widen your starting hand range the closer you get to the Button.

You should also consider the amount of players in a hand. Hands can have less value (how much you can get paid off) against 1 player than when you’re up against 6. On the flip side, these same hands can have greater bluffing value when heads-up because you only have one opponent to convince you have the nuts!

2. No Limping Allowed!

Most of the best online poker players in Online Texas Holdem tend to open raise whenever they’re first to enter the pot. If someone else has open-raised, they would either call that raise, 3/bet or fold – depending on their take on the open-raiser.

Why Should You Avoid Limping In Online Texas Holdem?

Limping in LP is basically like giving the blinds an easy pass to the flop. It’s also likely that you’ve got average hands. Rather steal the blinds.
Players who tend to limp more than they raise are probably playing too many weak hands. Hold’em or Fold’em – that’s the nature of the game in Online Texas Holdem.

Players who limp into poker pots often find themselves in a post-flop situation where too many other players have mediocre hands. Problem is, nobody knows what anyone else is holding.

If you’re out of position and you limp into poker pots, you run a greater risk. You may not get any value for your hand, or, if you hit the top pair with a weak kicker you’ll regret it when you get beaten by a stronger kicker.
The last thing you want is to be debt money in the pot. Want to know what dead money is? It’s a generous contribution made by players of Online Texas Holdem who have folded.

The open limp in Online Texas Holdem is infrequently used by good-quality poker players. Usually, there’s only one case where limping gets you places. If a game is really passive, and you will see the Flop cheaply, possibly even with a suited connector with good implied odds, it’s worth limping. If action folds to you, your best play may be to fold your hand, or to raise. Raising actually puts you in control of the hand again and makes the next caller defensive. Remember, competition poker players in Online Texas Holdem tend to go hard at those who limp because they are perceived as weak. Most the time, this is actually true.

Can you play Texas Hold’em Online?

Driven by the popularity of televised poker, Texas Hold’em (more commonly, ‘Hold’em’) has become the world’s most popular poker game, both in live casinos and online at PokerStars.

Can you play real money poker online Texas?

In fact, unlike Washington, Texas poker players can legally play on offshore poker sites, like Bovada. The only illegal activity is owning or operating a poker room.

What is the best free Texas Hold’em app?

Zynga is easily the best free poker app for play-money poker. Available on Android, iOS, Windows devices, and, of course, don’t forget Zynga Poker Facebook, the Zynga Poker app provides impressive flexibility with respect to type of tournaments.

What states can you play online poker?

There are currently 5 states that offer legal online poker for real money in the United States – New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Delaware. Pennsylvania joined this group when PokerStars went live in the state on Nov. 4, 2019.

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