Free Poker Guides - A Basic Guide to Texas Hold Em Poker Games

By reading this article you will gain an essential understanding of the basics on how to play Texas Holdem, whether you’re playing pay or free poker. Like all variants of poker, individuals compete for combined money or chips (known as the pot). The rotation of the game is always to the dealers left. At the start of the game each gambler receives 2cards, placed with the suit down so the gambler can not see their hand. This is your first chance to have a flutter and during this first period each participant gets the chance to continue or walk away.

Next, three cards are dealt face up in the center. This is called the flop, and these are community cards to be used by all players in making their “hands”, along with the two they have already got in their hand. You make a second wager after the flop. This time, a player can pass, because a pot has already been started.

Then two more cards are dealt face up in the center, one at a time, with a betting interval after each card.

In the games in which I play, we always burn (discard) the top cards at the start of every turn–you burn one and turn one. This is a precaution, and the main reason for it is that burning or discarding that top card eliminates cheating about ninety percent of the time (marked cards won’t work for a cheater when the top card is burned).

We’re not accusing anybody of being a cheater: Burning the top card is just a traditional thing in professional and in many amateur games.

Most of the games I play in have no limit, but hold’em is an interesting game to play with a limit, because after the turn there are plenty of times that you’ll have something good to draw at.

If you are new to Hold’em then have a go at playing free poker online where its totally free and you wont lose any of your own cash.