How to play poker: No Limit Texas Hold'Em

How to play poker: No Limit Texas Hold-Em

If you have not heard there is a Steem Poker League (@spl), and we play at lucksacks.com for free with real SBD freerolls! (My user name on there is Elevexx 😎 )

Now I think you have to be reputation (30) and also have an introduction post, but after that there are freerolls everyday!! (Usually 30 SBD - 50 SBD freerolls)

Now if you are interested in playing, but do not know how to play I wanted to put together a quick tutorial for No Limit Hold-em which is what most of the tournaments are.

Now let me begin by saying I was a poker dealer for almost 10 years, and have dealt many styles of table games including Blackjack as well!

So now that I've done the intro on to tonights game..

No Limit Texas Holdem

The best way I can start by explaining what NL Hold-em is would be to quote Matt Damon in the film Rounders..

No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em is the Cadillac of poker.
Each player is dealt two cards face down.
Five cards are then dealt face up across the middle.
These are community cards everyone can use to make the best five card hand.

Now if you have not seen the film then you definitely should if you want to get into the poker scene, especially since there may be many quotes and sayings go over your head!

On any online site it will look much like lucksacks..

As you can see here I play my 2 cards with the 5 on the board against the other players, and even though in this hand I won with a pair, there is a lot more to it than pairing the board.

So I will start off with a chart of all of the possible hands from highest to lowest..

1st - Royal Flush

2nd - Straight Flush

3rd - Four of a Kind

4th - Full House

5th - Flush

6th - Straight

7th - Three of a Kind

8th - Two Pair

9th - Pair

10th - High Card

Now these are the only possible hands, because if nobody has even a pair, (which happens more than you think) then whoever has the highest card in their hand wins.. Unless all 5 cards on the board are higher then it is a split pot.

In this game there are "blinds" a small blind and a big blind, which is a forced bet that follows the "Button" clockwise around the table, and after everyone is dealt 2 cards the player after the big blind either "Calls" the big blind "Raises" the Big Blind or "Folds" and this continues around the table to the Big Blind who at that point has the option to either Raise or "Check" (which means to pass) and see the Flop.

Now there are 4 rounds of betting..

Pre-Flop

This is after the button moves and the blinds are force bet.

Everyone is dealt 2 cards face down, and then the first round of betting starts after the Big Blind.

Now once betting comes back around to the Big Blind there are 3 community cards dealt for everyone to use, and this is called the "Flop"

The Flop

After these 3 cards are dealt there is another round of betting, and this time it starts right after the Button with the Small Blind getting the option to either "Check" or "Bet".

Now this round of betting goes around once, and the minimum must equal at least the Big Blind, and when raising must at least double the Big Blind.
(This is different in Pot Limit or Limit which are different games and we will discuss this in those posts.)

After this round of betting is a fourth card called the "Turn"

The Turn

There is another round of betting with the same rules as the flop beginning at the Small Blind, and then the fifth and final card is called the "River".

The River

The river can have some crazy heartbreaking things happen, someone can get 4 cards to a flush and beat out a straight that was made on the flop, or it could even give someone the 1 card left in the deck to make a straight and win the pot! (These plays can get you called a River Rat, a Donkey, and many others you will find out.)

After this card is dealt there is one last round of betting the same as the flop, and the turn beginning with the Small Blind, and after that round everyone left must turn up there cards and a winner or a split is decided out of the best 5 card hand each player can make.

However sometimes a player can bet on the turn, the flop, and even pre-flop and win the pot early if everyone else folds!

Conclusion

Now even though it can be intimidating.. If you play one hand at a time you'll notice that most of the time you may can win with just the Top Pair!!

So if you want to try your luck then come sign up on lucksacks for free and maybe win some real SBD!

If you have any questions feel free to comment below or check out their page @spl for more information.

Thanks for checking this out, and I hope to see you there!

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