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Casino Holdem Poker Rules

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On This Page

Introduction


Casino Hold 'Em is a poker variation, similar to Texas Hold 'Em, that is played in Egypt, Russia, South Africa, Holland, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Morocco, Malta, Ukraine, Panama, and Romania. It is also available to play online at casinos using Net Gaming, Real Time Gaming, Playtech, Gamesys, and Galewind Software.

The game also goes by the name Casino Hold 'Em Open. Under this name, the rules are the same except the player hole cards are dealt face up. In normal Casino Hold 'Em they are dealt face down.

Rules


The rules are as follows.

Poker
  1. Play begins with each player making an Ante wager. There is also an optional Progressive Jackpot side bet.
  2. The dealer gives the player and himself two hole cards and three community cards face up on the table.
  3. Each player must decide to either fold or call. If the player folds, then he gives up his cards and his Ante bet. If the player calls, then the Call bet must be equal to two times the Ante bet.
  4. The dealer will then deal two more community cards, for a total of five. The dealer will then turn over his own two cards.
  5. Both hands shall be scored according the highest poker value of the two hole cards and five community cards.
  6. The dealer must have a pair of fours or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify then the Ante will pay according to the Ante pay table below and the Call bet will push.
  7. If the dealer qualifies and beats the player, then the player will lose both the Ante and Call.
  8. If the dealer qualifies and the player beats the dealer then the Ante will pay according to the Ante pay table below and the Call bet will pay 1 to 1.
  9. If the dealer qualifies and the player ties the dealer then both Ante and Call bets will push.
  10. The Progressive Jackpot side bet pays based on the player's final seven card hand only, even if the player folded or loses to the dealer. More on this bet at the bottom of the page.

Ante Pay Table

HandTable 1Table 2Table 3Table 4
Royal flush 2025100100
Straight flush 20252049
4 of a kind 10121017
Full house 3333
Flush 2222
All other 1111

Caribbean Hold 'Em Warning


Be warned that Realtime Gaming has an imitation of this game called Caribbean Hold 'Em. However, they pay 1 to 1 on the Ante if the dealer doesn't qualify, as opposed to the full Ante Bonus pay table. Nowhere is this rule change disclosed in their game rules, I might add.

Analysis


The following table shows the number of combination, probability, and contribution to the return of all possible outcomes under ante pay table 3, which I'm told is the most frequently used. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.16%.

Return Table — Pay Table 3Expand

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Player wins with royal flush1027362590400.0000260.002700
Player has royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify1001198929600.0000040.000431
Player wins with straight flush2260011222840.0002160.004747
Player has straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify2010896728280.0000390.000784
Player wins with four of a kind12414198965520.0014890.01787
Player has four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify109094993200.0000330.000327
Player wins with full house55895050376600.0211950.105973
Player wins with flush45051314195800.0181610.072645
Player wins with straight or less364266700165720.231060.693181
Player has full house, dealer doesn't qualify3246016768320.0008850.002654
Player has flush, dealer doesn't qualify21688835364320.0060720.012144
Player has straight or less, dealer doesn't qualify155213762191480.1985120.198512
Tie06785969165800.0243980
Player folds-150090671026000.180093-0.180093
Player loses-388397017556120.317817-0.953451
Total278138100240001-0.021576

The following return table is four pay table 4. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 0.35%. This pay table can be found at Internet casinos using Gamesys N.V. software titled 'Casino Hold 'Em with Zero House Edge.' As you can see, the 'Zero House Edge' part is a misnomer. The player must pay a 10% commission on any net gambling win per session. A 'session' ends after a period of one hour with no bet or 24 hours, whichever happens first.

The owner of Casino Hold 'Em wishes for me to state that Gamesys N.V. is using his game without permission.

Return Table — Pay Table 4Expand

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Player wins with royal flush 102 736,259,040 0.000026 0.002700
Player has royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify 100 119,892,960 0.000004 0.000431
Player wins with straight flush 51 6,031,161,932 0.000217 0.011059
Player has straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify 49 1,096,758,936 0.000039 0.001932
Player wins with four of a kind 19 41,421,337,056 0.001489 0.028295
Player has four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify 17 909,634,104 0.000033 0.000556
Player wins with full house 5 589,638,417,816 0.021199 0.105997
Player wins with flush 4 505,727,272,920 0.018183 0.072730
Player wins with straight or less 3 6,429,871,396,516 0.231175 0.693526
Player has full house, dealer doesn't qualify 3 24,601,738,176 0.000885 0.002654
Player has flush, dealer doesn't qualify 2 169,051,416,912 0.006078 0.012156
Player has straight or less, dealer doesn't qualify 1 5,526,154,486,512 0.198684 0.198684
Tie 0 679,763,871,140 0.024440 0.000000
Player folds -1 4,984,375,678,920 0.179205 -0.179205
Player loses -3 8,854,310,701,060 0.318342 -0.955027
Total 27,813,810,024,000 1.000000 -0.003511

I would like to thank Stephen How of Discount Gambling for supplying the combinations in pay table 4.

The only pay tables fully analyzed are 3 and 4, because it takes my computer about a month to cycle through all possible combinations. However, assuming the player was following optimal strategy under pay table 3 but playing under pay table 1 or 2, the house edge under pay table 1 would be 2.40%, and under pay table 2 would be 1.96%. The actual house edge under pay tables 1 and 2 would be slightly less or equal to these figures.

Strategy


Unfortunately, there is no easy way to quantify optimal strategy for this game. I can say that the optimal strategy player will raise 82% of the time. So only in the worst 18% of hands should the player fold. In general these are when the player has two singletons in the hole that are low compared to the flop, with little or no chance for a straight or flush.

Side Bets


The only side bet I am aware of for this game is known as the AA+. It pays based on the poker value of the player's hand after the flop. There are three known pay tables, as follows:

AA+ Pay Tables

HandPay Table 1Pay Table 2Pay Table 3
Royal Flush 25100100
Straight flush 255050
4 of a kind 254040
Full house 253030
Flush 252020
Straight 7710
Three of a kind 778
Two pair 777
Pair of aces 777
House edge 6.40%6.26%2.97%

Pay tables 1 and 2 can be found in land casinos. Pay table 3 is used by Internet casinos using Gamesys software.

As an example, following is the full return table for Pay Table 1.

AA+ Side Bet — Pay Table 1

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal Flush2540.0000020.000038
Straight flush25360.0000140.000346
4 of a kind256240.0002400.006002
Full house2537440.0014410.036014
Flush2551080.0019650.049135
Straight7102000.0039250.027473
Three of a kind7549120.0211280.147899
Two pair71235520.0475390.332773
Pair of aces7844800.0325050.227537
Other-123163000.891241-0.891241
Total25989601-0.064023

Progressive Jackpot


The Progressive Jackpot bet shall pay based on the player's two hole cards and the five community cards only. It does not matter whether or not the player folds or loses to the dealer. In the event of a straight flush or royal flush on the board, all players who made the Progressive Jackpot bet shall split the win.

The following table shows the probability and contribution to the return for each event. Obviously, the return from the top two awards will depend on the jackpot size, so are treated as unknowns.

Progressive Jackpot

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal flush Jackpot 4,324 0.000032 x
Straight flush 10% of Jackpot 37,260 0.000279 y
4 of a kind $100.00 224,848 0.001681 0.168100
Full house $10.00 3,473,184 0.025961 0.259610
Other $0.00 130,044,944 0.972047 0.000000
Total $0.00 133,784,560 1.000000 0.487931+x+y

The table above shows the fixed wins return 42.77% of the amount bet. Assuming the player is playing alone, for every $1,000 in the meter the return will increase by 6.02%. Under the same assumption, the break-even point is $9,503.22. Due to jackpot sharing, the return will go down slightly according to the number of other players making the bet.

Jumbo Jackpot


There is another progressive jackpot called the 'Jumbo Jackpot.' The following table shows the wins, probabilities and the contribution to the return for each type of winning hand.

Jumbo Jackpot

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
7-card straight flush ? 32 0.00000024 x
6-card straight flush $5,000.00 752 0.00000562 0.028105
5-card straight flush $250.00 40,800 0.00030497 0.076242
4 of a kind $50.00 224,848 0.00168067 0.084034
Full house $5.00 3,473,184 0.02596102 0.129805
Flush $4.00 4,047,644 0.03025494 0.121020
Straight $2.00 6,180,020 0.04619382 0.092388
Other $0.00 119,817,280 0.89559871 0.000000
Total $0.00 133,784,560 1.00000000 0.531593

The return for the top award depends on the amount in the jackpot. I can say that all the other wins return 53.16% of money bet. For every 100,000 bet units in the meter the return increases by 2.39%. At a jackpot of $1,958,300.75 the return reaches 100%.

Progressive Jackpot Side Bet

There is yet another side bet based on the player's first two cards and the three-card flop. I put information about it in my page titled Casino Hold Em Progressive Jackpot Side Bet'.

Casino Razz Bonus

I believe this side bet pays according to the poker value of the player's two hole cards and the three cards on the flop -- the lower the poker value, the more it pays. Country club casino launceston tasmania. For all the rules and analysis, please see my page on Casino Razz Bonus.

Methodology


The above analysis was performed using a brute force combinatorial program that analyzed all 27,813,810,024,000 possible outcomes, and played every hand according to optimal player strategy. It took my computers about a month to crank though the 27.8 trillion hands.

External Links


The web site for Casino Hold'em, as well as other games, is www.casinopokergames.com.

There is a good Casino Hold 'Em calculator at beatingbonuses.com.


Written by:Michael Shackleford

The PDF rules of poker are provided below for Texas Hold'em, the most popular poker variant.

To get the PDF printable version of this post click on of the unlock buttons below:

Other popular game variants include Pot Limit Omaha and 5card draw.

Table Of Contents

  • Texas Hold'em Rules
  • Poker hand Ranking System

Texas Hold'em Rules

In Texas hold'em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole' cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.

There are a total of four betting rounds: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river. The betting rounds will be detailed further on.

If you have a dedicated dealer (such as at a casino), the button will still move around the table so everybody will eventually have to pay the blinds. The button doesn't show who is dealing in a casino; the button shows who is seated the best position at the table and where the blinds are located.

If you just sat down (out of turn) you will have to pay the blinds in order get dealt a hand; otherwise, you can wait until the blinds come around to your seat. You should wait for the blinds as paying twice is unprofitable.

The size of the blinds depends on the limit; for example, a 1/2 No Limit Hold'em game would have a big blind of $2 and a small blind of 1$. The small blind and big blind are located to the left of the button.

Offer up free site. This is shown in the case of a 6 handed game below:

The blinds are an important part of the rules of poker. These forced bets which give players an incentive to play; in other words ‘spice up' the game. Without the blinds, there would be no penalty for waiting and only playing strong hands. The only hand worth playing would be two aces!

Antes are another form of forced bets which are often used the increase the action in some game types such as tournaments and deep stacked cash games.

Pre-flop – The First Betting Round of Hold'em

The first round of betting takes places starting at the position to the left of the big blind (early position or EP). Each player has the following options:

Raise: you can raise the current bet to increase the stakes of the game. If someone has raised before you, you can still raise again – this is call a reraise. The minimum size you can raise is typically chosen to be twice that of the last bet or raise.

Call: When you do not want to raise the stakes but want to continue with your hand you can match the current bet.

Fold: If you feel your hand is not worth playing any further you can fold your hand and not commit any more bets.

Check: If there is no bet placed you can check in order to see the next card. This isn't applicable to preflop. The blinds are the first bet preflop which must be matched with a call or raised, if a player wishes to continue.

Players must act in sequence until all bets are settled. The button must always act last in the first sequence. This first round of betting called ‘pre-flop' occurs before the flop is dealt.

The Flop – The Second Betting Round

The second round of betting takes places after the three community (shared) cards called the flop are dealt. The action will be to the first player to the left of the dealer. This is opposed to the action starting to the left of the big blind during the preflop betting round.

The first player to act has the option to check bet or fold; although you should not fold when you can check for free. The betting rounds after the flop is dealt is collectively known as ‘post-flop'.

The Turn – The Third Betting Round

The third round of betting occurs after the second community card has been dealt. This card is called the turn. Again, the action starts with the active player to the left of the dealer.

The River and Showdown – The Fourth Betting Round

Casino Holdem Poker Rules Games

The fourth and final round of betting occurs when the dealer turns over the river card. The hand ends with the showdown of hands or if there is only one live hand remaining (the other player(s) have folded).

At showdown, the player with the best five card combination from their hole cards and the community cards wins the final pot. Split pots occur when both players have the same best five cards.

After each hand, the button moves to the left of the dealer. This means everyone will have to play the blinds at some point.

Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving.

The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our home page if you want to improve your poker game!

Other notes:

home page if you want to improve your poker game!

home page if you want to improve your poker game!

Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!

The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!

  1. Royal Flush (649,739:1)
    Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.
  1. Straight flush (72,192:1)
    Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.
  1. Four of a kind (4,164:1)
    Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads'.
  1. Full House (693:1)
    Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!
  1. Flush (508:1)
    Five cards all of the same suit.
  1. Straight (254:1)
    Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.
  1. Three of a kind (46:1)
    Three cards of the same value.
  1. Two pair (20 : 1)
    Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!
  1. One pair (1.37:1)
    Two cards of the same value.
  1. High card
    The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.

Kickers

A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is AK5♠ 7♠ 2 both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.

Crown casino texas holdem poker rules
  1. Play begins with each player making an Ante wager. There is also an optional Progressive Jackpot side bet.
  2. The dealer gives the player and himself two hole cards and three community cards face up on the table.
  3. Each player must decide to either fold or call. If the player folds, then he gives up his cards and his Ante bet. If the player calls, then the Call bet must be equal to two times the Ante bet.
  4. The dealer will then deal two more community cards, for a total of five. The dealer will then turn over his own two cards.
  5. Both hands shall be scored according the highest poker value of the two hole cards and five community cards.
  6. The dealer must have a pair of fours or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify then the Ante will pay according to the Ante pay table below and the Call bet will push.
  7. If the dealer qualifies and beats the player, then the player will lose both the Ante and Call.
  8. If the dealer qualifies and the player beats the dealer then the Ante will pay according to the Ante pay table below and the Call bet will pay 1 to 1.
  9. If the dealer qualifies and the player ties the dealer then both Ante and Call bets will push.
  10. The Progressive Jackpot side bet pays based on the player's final seven card hand only, even if the player folded or loses to the dealer. More on this bet at the bottom of the page.

Ante Pay Table

HandTable 1Table 2Table 3Table 4
Royal flush 2025100100
Straight flush 20252049
4 of a kind 10121017
Full house 3333
Flush 2222
All other 1111

Caribbean Hold 'Em Warning


Be warned that Realtime Gaming has an imitation of this game called Caribbean Hold 'Em. However, they pay 1 to 1 on the Ante if the dealer doesn't qualify, as opposed to the full Ante Bonus pay table. Nowhere is this rule change disclosed in their game rules, I might add.

Analysis


The following table shows the number of combination, probability, and contribution to the return of all possible outcomes under ante pay table 3, which I'm told is the most frequently used. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.16%.

Return Table — Pay Table 3Expand

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Player wins with royal flush1027362590400.0000260.002700
Player has royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify1001198929600.0000040.000431
Player wins with straight flush2260011222840.0002160.004747
Player has straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify2010896728280.0000390.000784
Player wins with four of a kind12414198965520.0014890.01787
Player has four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify109094993200.0000330.000327
Player wins with full house55895050376600.0211950.105973
Player wins with flush45051314195800.0181610.072645
Player wins with straight or less364266700165720.231060.693181
Player has full house, dealer doesn't qualify3246016768320.0008850.002654
Player has flush, dealer doesn't qualify21688835364320.0060720.012144
Player has straight or less, dealer doesn't qualify155213762191480.1985120.198512
Tie06785969165800.0243980
Player folds-150090671026000.180093-0.180093
Player loses-388397017556120.317817-0.953451
Total278138100240001-0.021576

The following return table is four pay table 4. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 0.35%. This pay table can be found at Internet casinos using Gamesys N.V. software titled 'Casino Hold 'Em with Zero House Edge.' As you can see, the 'Zero House Edge' part is a misnomer. The player must pay a 10% commission on any net gambling win per session. A 'session' ends after a period of one hour with no bet or 24 hours, whichever happens first.

The owner of Casino Hold 'Em wishes for me to state that Gamesys N.V. is using his game without permission.

Return Table — Pay Table 4Expand

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Player wins with royal flush 102 736,259,040 0.000026 0.002700
Player has royal flush, dealer doesn't qualify 100 119,892,960 0.000004 0.000431
Player wins with straight flush 51 6,031,161,932 0.000217 0.011059
Player has straight flush, dealer doesn't qualify 49 1,096,758,936 0.000039 0.001932
Player wins with four of a kind 19 41,421,337,056 0.001489 0.028295
Player has four of a kind, dealer doesn't qualify 17 909,634,104 0.000033 0.000556
Player wins with full house 5 589,638,417,816 0.021199 0.105997
Player wins with flush 4 505,727,272,920 0.018183 0.072730
Player wins with straight or less 3 6,429,871,396,516 0.231175 0.693526
Player has full house, dealer doesn't qualify 3 24,601,738,176 0.000885 0.002654
Player has flush, dealer doesn't qualify 2 169,051,416,912 0.006078 0.012156
Player has straight or less, dealer doesn't qualify 1 5,526,154,486,512 0.198684 0.198684
Tie 0 679,763,871,140 0.024440 0.000000
Player folds -1 4,984,375,678,920 0.179205 -0.179205
Player loses -3 8,854,310,701,060 0.318342 -0.955027
Total 27,813,810,024,000 1.000000 -0.003511

I would like to thank Stephen How of Discount Gambling for supplying the combinations in pay table 4.

The only pay tables fully analyzed are 3 and 4, because it takes my computer about a month to cycle through all possible combinations. However, assuming the player was following optimal strategy under pay table 3 but playing under pay table 1 or 2, the house edge under pay table 1 would be 2.40%, and under pay table 2 would be 1.96%. The actual house edge under pay tables 1 and 2 would be slightly less or equal to these figures.

Strategy


Unfortunately, there is no easy way to quantify optimal strategy for this game. I can say that the optimal strategy player will raise 82% of the time. So only in the worst 18% of hands should the player fold. In general these are when the player has two singletons in the hole that are low compared to the flop, with little or no chance for a straight or flush.

Side Bets


The only side bet I am aware of for this game is known as the AA+. It pays based on the poker value of the player's hand after the flop. There are three known pay tables, as follows:

AA+ Pay Tables

HandPay Table 1Pay Table 2Pay Table 3
Royal Flush 25100100
Straight flush 255050
4 of a kind 254040
Full house 253030
Flush 252020
Straight 7710
Three of a kind 778
Two pair 777
Pair of aces 777
House edge 6.40%6.26%2.97%

Pay tables 1 and 2 can be found in land casinos. Pay table 3 is used by Internet casinos using Gamesys software.

As an example, following is the full return table for Pay Table 1.

AA+ Side Bet — Pay Table 1

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal Flush2540.0000020.000038
Straight flush25360.0000140.000346
4 of a kind256240.0002400.006002
Full house2537440.0014410.036014
Flush2551080.0019650.049135
Straight7102000.0039250.027473
Three of a kind7549120.0211280.147899
Two pair71235520.0475390.332773
Pair of aces7844800.0325050.227537
Other-123163000.891241-0.891241
Total25989601-0.064023

Progressive Jackpot


The Progressive Jackpot bet shall pay based on the player's two hole cards and the five community cards only. It does not matter whether or not the player folds or loses to the dealer. In the event of a straight flush or royal flush on the board, all players who made the Progressive Jackpot bet shall split the win.

The following table shows the probability and contribution to the return for each event. Obviously, the return from the top two awards will depend on the jackpot size, so are treated as unknowns.

Progressive Jackpot

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal flush Jackpot 4,324 0.000032 x
Straight flush 10% of Jackpot 37,260 0.000279 y
4 of a kind $100.00 224,848 0.001681 0.168100
Full house $10.00 3,473,184 0.025961 0.259610
Other $0.00 130,044,944 0.972047 0.000000
Total $0.00 133,784,560 1.000000 0.487931+x+y

The table above shows the fixed wins return 42.77% of the amount bet. Assuming the player is playing alone, for every $1,000 in the meter the return will increase by 6.02%. Under the same assumption, the break-even point is $9,503.22. Due to jackpot sharing, the return will go down slightly according to the number of other players making the bet.

Jumbo Jackpot


There is another progressive jackpot called the 'Jumbo Jackpot.' The following table shows the wins, probabilities and the contribution to the return for each type of winning hand.

Jumbo Jackpot

HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
7-card straight flush ? 32 0.00000024 x
6-card straight flush $5,000.00 752 0.00000562 0.028105
5-card straight flush $250.00 40,800 0.00030497 0.076242
4 of a kind $50.00 224,848 0.00168067 0.084034
Full house $5.00 3,473,184 0.02596102 0.129805
Flush $4.00 4,047,644 0.03025494 0.121020
Straight $2.00 6,180,020 0.04619382 0.092388
Other $0.00 119,817,280 0.89559871 0.000000
Total $0.00 133,784,560 1.00000000 0.531593

The return for the top award depends on the amount in the jackpot. I can say that all the other wins return 53.16% of money bet. For every 100,000 bet units in the meter the return increases by 2.39%. At a jackpot of $1,958,300.75 the return reaches 100%.

Progressive Jackpot Side Bet

There is yet another side bet based on the player's first two cards and the three-card flop. I put information about it in my page titled Casino Hold Em Progressive Jackpot Side Bet'.

Casino Razz Bonus

I believe this side bet pays according to the poker value of the player's two hole cards and the three cards on the flop -- the lower the poker value, the more it pays. Country club casino launceston tasmania. For all the rules and analysis, please see my page on Casino Razz Bonus.

Methodology


The above analysis was performed using a brute force combinatorial program that analyzed all 27,813,810,024,000 possible outcomes, and played every hand according to optimal player strategy. It took my computers about a month to crank though the 27.8 trillion hands.

External Links


The web site for Casino Hold'em, as well as other games, is www.casinopokergames.com.

There is a good Casino Hold 'Em calculator at beatingbonuses.com.


Written by:Michael Shackleford

The PDF rules of poker are provided below for Texas Hold'em, the most popular poker variant.

To get the PDF printable version of this post click on of the unlock buttons below:

Other popular game variants include Pot Limit Omaha and 5card draw.

Table Of Contents

  • Texas Hold'em Rules
  • Poker hand Ranking System

Texas Hold'em Rules

In Texas hold'em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole' cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.

There are a total of four betting rounds: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river. The betting rounds will be detailed further on.

If you have a dedicated dealer (such as at a casino), the button will still move around the table so everybody will eventually have to pay the blinds. The button doesn't show who is dealing in a casino; the button shows who is seated the best position at the table and where the blinds are located.

If you just sat down (out of turn) you will have to pay the blinds in order get dealt a hand; otherwise, you can wait until the blinds come around to your seat. You should wait for the blinds as paying twice is unprofitable.

The size of the blinds depends on the limit; for example, a 1/2 No Limit Hold'em game would have a big blind of $2 and a small blind of 1$. The small blind and big blind are located to the left of the button.

Offer up free site. This is shown in the case of a 6 handed game below:

The blinds are an important part of the rules of poker. These forced bets which give players an incentive to play; in other words ‘spice up' the game. Without the blinds, there would be no penalty for waiting and only playing strong hands. The only hand worth playing would be two aces!

Antes are another form of forced bets which are often used the increase the action in some game types such as tournaments and deep stacked cash games.

Pre-flop – The First Betting Round of Hold'em

The first round of betting takes places starting at the position to the left of the big blind (early position or EP). Each player has the following options:

Raise: you can raise the current bet to increase the stakes of the game. If someone has raised before you, you can still raise again – this is call a reraise. The minimum size you can raise is typically chosen to be twice that of the last bet or raise.

Call: When you do not want to raise the stakes but want to continue with your hand you can match the current bet.

Fold: If you feel your hand is not worth playing any further you can fold your hand and not commit any more bets.

Check: If there is no bet placed you can check in order to see the next card. This isn't applicable to preflop. The blinds are the first bet preflop which must be matched with a call or raised, if a player wishes to continue.

Players must act in sequence until all bets are settled. The button must always act last in the first sequence. This first round of betting called ‘pre-flop' occurs before the flop is dealt.

The Flop – The Second Betting Round

The second round of betting takes places after the three community (shared) cards called the flop are dealt. The action will be to the first player to the left of the dealer. This is opposed to the action starting to the left of the big blind during the preflop betting round.

The first player to act has the option to check bet or fold; although you should not fold when you can check for free. The betting rounds after the flop is dealt is collectively known as ‘post-flop'.

The Turn – The Third Betting Round

The third round of betting occurs after the second community card has been dealt. This card is called the turn. Again, the action starts with the active player to the left of the dealer.

The River and Showdown – The Fourth Betting Round

Casino Holdem Poker Rules Games

The fourth and final round of betting occurs when the dealer turns over the river card. The hand ends with the showdown of hands or if there is only one live hand remaining (the other player(s) have folded).

At showdown, the player with the best five card combination from their hole cards and the community cards wins the final pot. Split pots occur when both players have the same best five cards.

After each hand, the button moves to the left of the dealer. This means everyone will have to play the blinds at some point.

Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving.

The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our home page if you want to improve your poker game!

Other notes:

home page if you want to improve your poker game!

home page if you want to improve your poker game!

Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!

The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!

  1. Royal Flush (649,739:1)
    Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.
  1. Straight flush (72,192:1)
    Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.
  1. Four of a kind (4,164:1)
    Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads'.
  1. Full House (693:1)
    Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!
  1. Flush (508:1)
    Five cards all of the same suit.
  1. Straight (254:1)
    Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.
  1. Three of a kind (46:1)
    Three cards of the same value.
  1. Two pair (20 : 1)
    Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!
  1. One pair (1.37:1)
    Two cards of the same value.
  1. High card
    The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.

Kickers

A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is AK5♠ 7♠ 2 both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.

Split pots

Split pots occur when both players get to showdown and have the same hand rank. The pot is divided up equally between each of the players.

To take an example, if player A has K♠J and player B has K♣Q♠ on a AK5♠5♣2♠ board both players will have two pair and ace kicker as their best hand (A, K, K, 5, 5). Therefore the pot will be split between the two players.

Alternatively, if the neither player can improve the hand on the board it will also be a split pot. If the board is AK55Kand player A has Q♠J♣ and player B has 4♣4♠ then both players will be playing the board and thus it will be a split pot. Hence, you cannot have three pair in poker and the best two pair will play.

Beyond hand rankings

The rules of poker and poker hand rankings are just the beginning for you on your poker journey. One of the core skills in poker is being able to determine whether your hand is strong or weak on a relative scale as opposed to an absolute scale. For example, three of a kind is extremely strong on a board with no flush or straight possibilities but very weak on a board with 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight (e.g. T987 – any heart or J or 6 beats three of a kind).

Hold Em Poker Game

One key point to note is that in poker all suits are of the same value. An Ace high flush of hearts is the same value as an Ace high flush of spades.

The first step to this is remembering if a flush beats a straight, or whether a straight flush beats quads; the next stage is figuring out your hand's relative strength based on how your opponent is playing, his tendencies and most importantly the board texture as noted.

Additionally, we should take into account the following factors:

  • How many players are in the pot
  • The amount of chips in the pot
  • The size of the bets made

If you can understand the poker hand rankings and relative hand strength you will be ahead of the game; get ready to beat all your friends and opponents at your home games and casinos! Want to accelerate your poker learning? Check out or poker training sites post for the quickest ways to improve your poker game.

If you are new to poker and are unsure of what hands you need to play, check out our starting hand charts over at the poker cheat sheet webpage.

Check out this poker hand ranking video for a more visual format of everything we said:

Crown Casino Texas Holdem Poker Rules

Make sure you check out the fan favorite posts:

Hold'em Or Fold'em Poker

Poker cheat sheet for beginners & Best Poker Books





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