Texas Holdem Rules Dealer Position

13-05-2021 admin

How to Shuffle and Deal Texas Holdem. Texas Hold 'em is a popular poker variation in which players seek to put together a winning hand using a pair of hole cards dealt prior to the start of the game and five community cards turned over in.

Poker Guide
- Learn to Play Poker: Getting Started
- Poker Game Variations
Texas Hold ‘em Guide
- Learn to Play Texas Hold ‘em
- Hold ‘em Gameplay
- Texas Hold ‘em Strategy
  - Beginner Hold ‘em Strategy
  - Intermediate Hold ‘em Strategy
Blackjack Guide
- Learn to Play Blackjack
- Blackjack Dealing
- Blackjack Strategy
- Blackjack Resources
Roulette Guide
- Learn to Play Roulette
- Roulette Strategy
- Roulette Types and Variations
- Roulette Resources
Slots Guide
- Learn to Play Slots
- Slots Games and Variations
- Slots Tips

Texas Hold ‘em is one of the simplest variants of poker and a great game to start with if you have never played before. The game is very logical and is one of the most popular poker variants played in casinos in the United States. However, if you’re a beginner, it’s a good idea to get started by playing Texas Hold ‘em online because you don’t have to worry about distractions like dealing, shuffling and attempting to read the faces of the other players.

What is Texas Hold ‘em Poker?

Texas Hold ‘em is a community card poker game in which game play is focused just as much on betting as it is on the cards being played. Texas Hold ‘em is played with a rotating dealer. During each hand, players are dealt two cards face-down, and three shared (a.k.a. community) cards are dealt face-up. A hand of Texas Hold ‘em consists of a minimum of one and a maximum of four betting rounds. A hand ends when all but one of the players have folded, or the final betting round is complete and multiple players are still in the hand – whichever comes first. The goal is to win as many chips as you can, one pot at a time. The game has several varieties, including No-Limit and Spread-Limit. Here, we will explore the basics of Limit Texas Hold ‘em.

The Rules of Texas Hold ‘em Poker

Small and large blinds are part of the rules of play for Texas Hold ‘em.

If you’re going to play Texas Hold ‘em, it’s best to start with the basics.

Blinds:

These are forced bets that take place before the cards are dealt. Blinds take the place of traditional “antes” and dictate the stakes of the game. In Texas Hold ‘em Poker there are two blinds, a small blind and a big blind:

Small Blind:

The player to the left of the dealer puts out the small blind. It is a mandatory bet. The small blind is generally half the size of the big blind.

Big Blind:

The player two seats left of the dealer puts out the big blind (also a mandatory bet). The big blind is generally equal to the minimum bet.
The blinds count toward those players’ total investment in the first round of betting. This means that if the bet isn’t raised pre-flop, the small blind will only need to put in another half of the bet in order to call and the big blind will not have to put anything more in the pot. However, the big blind has the option to raise his or her blind.

Pocket cards, also called hole cards, are personal cards dealt to each player.

Pocket Cards:

At the beginning of each hand, players are dealt two face-down cards. These are called pocket cards or hole cards, and they should not be shown to the other players.

Pre-Flop:

This is the first round of betting. Players privately take a look at their pocket cards and decide which action they want to take. In the game of Texas Hold ‘em, only one player can take an action at a time. Players have three options:

Raise:

The first player may raise a bet by doubling the amount of the big blind. After that, players raise the amount of one bet in addition to the amount of the previous bet.

Call:

When players choose to call, they match the amount of the big blind.

Fold:

Players who have bad hands may choose to fold. This means that the player throws away his or her hand, pays nothing and waits for the next hand to play again.

Betting Round:

A betting round ends when all players have had a chance to act and all players who have not yet folded have bet the same amount of money for the round.

Burn Card:

After the first betting round has ended, the dealer discards the top card of the deck, known as a burn card.

Poker Texas Hold'em Rules

The Flop:

After the burn card has been discarded, the dealer flips three cards face-up. This is known as the “flop”, and they are community cards that anyone can use in combination with their two pocket cards in order to form a poker hand. Another betting round begins. Post-flop betting opens up other options, such as check raising. You may also want to disguise your hand, especially if you have the nuts.

The Turn:

Once the second round of betting concludes, the dealer once again places a burn card face-down. The dealer then places one card face-up, known as the “turn card.” The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. In this round and the final round of betting, the size of the bet is doubled. In Limit poker, this is also known as the “big bet.”

The River:

The dealer burns another card and places a final card face-up, called the “river card.” Players now use any of the five cards on the table or the two pocket cards to form a five-card poker hand. A final round of betting begins.

The order of community cards dealt includes the Flop, Turn, and the River.

Showdown:

If after the final round of betting more than one player is still in hand, the showdown takes place. Players who have not yet folded reveal their hands. The player with best hand wins the game.

Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tips

Texas Holdem Poker Rules Pdf

Keep these helpful hints in mind as you play Texas Hold ‘em Poker:

Blind Stealing:

If you have a poor hand, you may want to take an action called blind stealing. This occurs when you are in a late position and you raise with the goal of making the blinds fold hands that are also weak. Blind stealing generally occurs when all players have folded to someone in late position.

Evaluate Your Cards:

Becoming an expert at Texas Hold ‘em is all about learning how to properly evaluate your cards. A good rule of thumb is that you should seriously consider folding prior to the flop if you have two non-pair cards that are both less than 10. Much of Texas Hold ‘em strategy is based on the cards in your hand. If you get a bad hand, you will need to be patient and wait for the good hands to come to you.

Be Reasonable:

While poker often involves bluffing, when it comes to Texas Hold ‘em you don’t want to get sucked in too far when you have a weak hand.

How are you supposed to know where you're going if you don't know where you are?

Position is greatly undervalued by every beginner poker player. Your table position is often the difference between winning a hand and losing one.

Before playing a hand in Texas Hold'em you should always be aware of your position relative to the dealer button. Take a look at your position before you take a look at your cards.

The seats nearest to the are called early position or EP for short.
The seats nearest to the right of the button are called late position or LP for short.
The seats in between these will be called middle position or MP.

Poker table position diagram.

You win more money from later positions than you do from early positions. The player on the button acts last, makin the button the most profitable position (over the long run).

The seats in Red are early position
The seats in Blue are middle position
The seats in Green are late position

Early position.

Early Position is least favourable because you'll be one of the first to act after the flop. You want to avoid playing weak cards from these positions. You're relying on your cards to help you win the pot, as being first to act throughout the hand gives you less opportunities to outplay your opponents.

Don't get yourself in to trouble from EP.

Middle position.

Middle Position is better than Early Position, but it's not as awesome as Late Position. You can afford to play a few more hands from MP than you would from EP, as you do not have as many people left who can call and act after you from the flop onwards.

However, if all of the players from Early Position fold, this will still mean that you will be the first to act on each round. When it comes to poker strategy, it's not so much about your seat at the table as it is about who you've got acting before you and who you've got acting after you.

Late position.

Late Position. is highly advantageous.

There is a high chance that you will be last (or one of the last) to act on each round. This is so powerful it means you can be far more flexible with the range of hands you play. Just remember, just because you have position it doesn't mean you can get away with playing absolute junk all of the time.

'Being in position', 'having position' and 'positional advantage' all mean the same thing. Although it probably makes more sense to think of a positonal advantage as an informational advantage.

The button.

The Button is the best seat in the hand because on every betting round (except for before the flop), you will be last to act. This is amazing. This is also why you should look to play as many hands as possible (within reason) from the button. I'm usually looking for a reason not to play my hand when I'm on the BTN

The cut off.

The 'cut-off' is the position just before the button. This is the second best seat in Texas Hold'em because if the button folds, you will be the last to act on each hand. The button and cut-off are very useful positions for stealing the blinds as there are less players to act behind you, which makes it less likely that they are holding a good enough hand to call a raise with.

How to use table position in poker.

If you have position over another player, it means that you are acting after them on each round.

This means they will give you information before you make your decision.

They could check - possibly a sign of weakness.
They could bet - possibly a sign of strength.
If they bet, the size of their bet could mean something.
The time it takes for them to make their decision may also give you extra clues.

For example; if you have position over your opponent and they check quickly, this could be a sign of weakness. So you could use this information to bet out and take the pot. It's not always this easy, but getting some kind of information is infinitely better than being the one giving information to your opponent.

Poker table position example.

Lets say you're on the flop with a bunch of players in the pot, and you hold a mediocre hand like middle pair.

If there's a lot of betting and raising before the action gets to you, you can be sure that your hand isn't the best and you can happily fold without losing any chips.

On the other hand, if you are in early position you may bet out with a decent hand, only to find that there are much stronger hands out there that will re-raise you and force you to fold. Therefore you will have lost chips due to a lack of information.

The later you act in a hand, the more information you will have available to you about your opponents.

Positional awareness.

In general, you want to play more hands in position than you do out of position.

This doesn't mean that you force yourself to play any old hand when you have good position. Instead, be more inclined to play a wider range of hands when IP, but don't play this wide range of hands when OOP.

Try not to think of your position as dictating which hands you can and can't play. Instead, think of it as taking advantage of being last to act as often as you can.

Take KJo for example:

In early position I would be reluctant to play KJo. It's on the low end of the 'good hands', and the fact that I have poor position makes it an unattractive situation. The hand isn't strong enough to counteract my positional disadvantage.
In late position I would raise this hand almost every time if there were no raisers before me. I may also call raises with this hand if I have position on the raiser. I have an advantageous position combined with a decent starting hand, so the situation is looking good.

As a beginner player it's tricky to get to grips with the hands that are okay to play in LP, but are not good to play in EP. How are you supposed to learn the subtleties of which starting hands to play in which positions?

Trust me, you will pick it up as you go along. It will take time, but the more experience you get under your belt the more you'll get to grips with it. If you're completely new to the game, there's no harm in sticking with the premium hands and entering pots with them irrespective of position – that's okay. Just be prepared to broaden your starting hand requirements based on position as you improve.

Positional awareness graph.

Following on from my last point about playing more hands in position, here's a graph that shows a winning player's VPIP based on their position in 6max cash games.

A graph to show the positional VPIP of a winning 6max cash game poker player.

Position abbreviations explained (UTG, MP, BTN etc.)

The graph above shows the seats acting from first to last during the preflop betting round. So…

UTG - This is the seat to the left of the big blind. This is the first player to act preflop.
MP - This term can to varying positions between early position and late position. In this example it is the seat to the left of the UTG position.
CO - The seat just before the button. This is the second best position in the game.
BTN - The best seat at the table. This player acts last on every postflop betting round.
SB
BB

VPIP indicates the percentage of the time a player either raises or calls preflop. So essentially this chart shows the percentage of the time they 'play a hand' from each position.

Notice how this player is playing a lot more hands in late position than they are in early position. They do not play the same set of hands from all positions. They're not forcing these statistics either – they're just wisely taking in to account their table position and then selecting which starting hands to play with.

If you asked any winning cash game player to show you their VPIP by position, their stats and graphs would follow a similar trend to the one above.

You can find out your own VPIP stats (and also those of your opponents) by using the popular Poker Tracker software.

Evaluation.

Table position is easily one of the most underestimated factors in playing a hand by many amateur poker players. Position is so important that often hands can be won or lost based on your position alone, irrespective of the strength of the cards that you and your opponent hold.