Online Poker Rules

Welcome to my online poker rules section. There are a number of different poker games played online and as such there are a number of different rules that exist. Before you hit the tables and play within cash games you would be well advised to take the time to learn the rules thoroughly. Getting beat by a better player is one thing but losing money due to your lack of knowledge around the rules of poker is a cardinal sin.

Texas Holdem Poker Rules

Texas Hold'em is a community card game. You may be familiar with this fact. All that this means is that there are shared, or community cards that all players in the game get to use. Every player first gets 2 cards face down. These are called your hole cards. Before we discuss the make up and rules of the game lets get the blinds out of the way. The blinds are automatic bets that must be made in any game of poker. Why do they exist? Well if players didn't have to make any bets then they would just sit there and wait for pocket aces before playing. The blinds force a player to bet or risk being blinded out of the game (loosing all his/her chips). The blinds increase at intervals which puts pressure on players to get involved with less strong hands as play progresses.

In Poker a dealer button is used to indicate who will pay the blinds. There are 2 automatic bets made in any one hand, the big blind and the small blind which is always half the value of the big blind. The dealer moves round the table clockwise so that every player pays the same amount of money towards the pot. The use of blinds also ensures that there is always a little action and money up for grabs.

So, we know there are 2 community cards dealt to each player. These are for your eyes only. When everyone has been dealt 2 cards, each player will then decide based on the strength of their 2 cards whether to stay in the hand. In Texas Holdem the rules are such that you must match any bet previously made (in the same hand) to stay in the hand. If the player first to act bets $100 then you must match the bet (call) or raise to stay in the hand. If you call then other players must also call $100 to stay in the hand unless a player re-raises. Anyway you get the idea. Once this first round of betting is made the players who have opted to stay in the hand will get the flop dealt.

This is the first of the 5 community cards that will be getting dealt. Once these 3 cards have been dealt (visible to all), there is another round of betting. You will now use the 2 cards in your hand (hidden) along with the 3 shard or community cards to make the best 5 card poker hand. You may not have made a hand but by this stage you will have an idea whether your hand is worth playing.

After the second round of betting, there is another community card dealt (now 4 on the board). There is now another round of betting. After this round of betting is complete, there may be less players in the hand depending if they matched bets to that point. For all players who did there is a fifth community card dealt (known as the river). All cards have been dealt now and there is one last round of betting. Once all bets have been made there is a showdown and all players still in the hand turn their cards over and the player with the best 5 card poker hand takes down the pot.

Visit Top15Poker for the complete guide to online poker rules where they feature illustrated guides for over 75 poker rules variants.