There are two low limit poker games that are popular with beginners in thecasino. Seven-card stud and Limit Texas Hold'em. I chose to learn how toplay Hold'em. The rules of the game are fairly easy to learn. Limit Hold'emhas structured betting and the lowest limit you will find in most casinosis a $3/$6 game. That means the minimum bet is three dollars during the firsttwo rounds of betting and the minimum bet is six dollars during the lasttwo betting rounds. You use the limits when you raise as well. Other limitsyou may find are 5/10 or 10/20 or higher. I will explain the 3/6 game. TexasHold'em can be played by up to eleven players. Ten players are an ideal gameand some nice pots can be won.

Since the casino supplies a dealer one player must be the designated dealerwho will last act during the betting rounds. A disk or Button is used toidentify the dealer and this is rotated to the left after each hand. To starta new hand two Blind bets are put up or Posted. The person immediatelyto the left of the player with the dealer button puts up or Posts the SmallBlind which is approximately half the minimum bet. Since there are no 50cent chips, the small blind for the three six game is one dollar. The playerto the left of the small blind posts the Big Blind which is equal to theminimum bet in this case three dollars.

The rest of the players do not put up any money to start the hand. Becausethe dealer button rotates around the table, each player will eventually actas the big blind, small blind and dealer. It will cost you four dollars everytime the deal makes a complete rotation around the table.

After the blinds are posted each player is dealt two cards face down withthe player on the small blind receiving the first card and the player withthe dealer button getting the last card. The first betting round begins witthe player to the left of the big blind either putting in three dollars toCall the blind bet, or putting in six dollars to raise the big blindor folding his hand. This goes around the table in order until it reachesthe player who posted the small blind. That player can call the bet by puttingin two dollars since a dollar bet was already posted. The last person toact is the big blind. If no one has raised, the dealer will ask if they wouldlike the option. This is the option to raise or just check. By checkingthe player does not put in any more money. A rookiemistake sometimes occurs here. The player with the big blind has alreadyput his bet in. I have seen some players throw their cards in not realizingthat they are already in the hand. Another rookie mistake is betting or foldingyour cards when it is not your turn. You must wait before you act.

There can be up to three raises per betting round. After the first roundis completed the dealer will burn or discard the top card on the deck.This is done to make sure no one could have accidentally seen the top card.Three cards are dealt and turned face up in the middle of the table. Thisis known as the Flop. These are community cards used by all the players.Another betting round begins with the first active player to the left ofthe dealer button. The minimum bet for this round is also three dollars

After this round the dealer burns another card and turns a fourth card faceup in the middle of the table. This is sometimes referred to as the Turn.The minimum bet after the turn is now six dollars and begins again with thefirst active player to the left of the button. When this round is completethe dealer will burn another card and turn a fifth card face up. This iscalled the river or Fifth Street and the final betting round begins withsix dollars being the minimum bet.

To determine the winner, the players may use any combination of their twodown cards and the five cards on the Board (Table) to form thehighest five cardhand. In some rare cases the best hand will be the five cards on board.In that case the active players will split the pot. A sixth card is neverused to break a tie.

Your position in relation to the dealer button is important in deciding whichbeginning hands you play. I will discuss this in a future article.

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Until next time, remember:
Luck comes and goes...Knowledge stays forever.

NOTE: This is the original series ofarticles that was written in 2000 as I learned to play the Texas Hold'em. Itdocuments some of my experiences during my first year of playing casino poker. Ihave tried to keep the links to outside sites updated where possible. This series of articles is not part of my book,