How To Play Texas Hold'EM: Part 2.

TEXAS HOLD'EM: THE FLOP.
After the first round of bids/wagers, the dealer burns the first card in the packet; this means that he places the card face down on the table and that card will no longer be in play. This convention is done in order to avoid certain types of cheating: it is never the first card that is dealt during a round of dealing, but the second card and the ones subsequent to that.

The dealer deals the following three cards side by side. These constitute the flop, in other words, the first three community cards dealt are known as the flop.

SECOND ROUND OF BIDDING/WAGERING IN TEXAS HOLD'EM POKER:
The following round, and the two that follow it, assigns the first position of speaker as the player sat to the left of the button. As well as calling, raising and re-raising, the players now have the possibility of checking. This means that they can stay in the game without having to bet anything and speak if the position arises.

Once a player has opened, i.e. bet, the other players can call by placing the same amount or raise successively on their turn. If they choose neither of these options then they can fold, this means that their cards have been removed form the game. Finally, at the end of the round, the players still in the round would all have bet the same amount, except for those who did not have enough chips.

A main pot will be created leading from the smallest stack. Secondary, or exterior pots, will be created for all the players in the round who have a superior stack to the small stack player. Several secondary pots can develop in function to the size of the participating players' stacks.

THE TURN (FORTH STREET):
After having finished the second turn of bidding/wagering, the first card in the packet is, again, burned, and the following card is added to the flop. The addition of this extra, single, card is called the Turn.

THIRD BIDDING/WAGERING ROUND:
In games that have a limit, the bidding/wagering doubles from this point in the game.

THE RIVER (FIFTH STREET):
After having finished the third round of bidding, the next card is, again, burned, and the subsequent card is dealt on the board, next to the card dealt at the turn, which is itself next to the three cards dealt at the flop. The stage when this fifth card is dealt on the board is called the River.

The flop, the turn and the river taken together are the community cards, which players use to make their winning combination, in reference to their two hidden cards, or not as the case may be- but as stated earlier, not using the hidden cards is very rare in a game of Texas Hold'EM.

FOURTH ROUND OF BIDDING/WAGERING:
This turn of bidding preceded the Show-Down, when the players still in the game do battle by showing their cards and comparing their combinations in order to establish who the winner is.

If at least two player's posses the same value hand, the following card dealt, the Kicker, assigns the winner. If there is no kicker (if the players have the same private hands, or exactly the same combination of five cards), the pot is shared, know as a ‘split'.

DEALER ERRORS IN TEXAS HOLD'EM:
If the cards that are meant to be dealt as hidden cards are accidentally revealed to everybody, then there is a ‘misdeal'. The dealer then picks up all the cards, reshuffles and then re-deals.

If another card is returned because of a dealer error, the dealer then continues until the end of the deal. Once he has finished the deal, the dealer takes the card from the bottom of the pack and gives it to the player whose card was exposed and puts the open card back in the game; it will then become the card that is burned at the flop. If more than one card is exposed during the deal, there is a misdeal and all cards are returned, shuffled and re-dealt.

If the clop contains too many cards, i.e. the dealer over-deals, then the card needs to be re-dealt, this applies even if it was possible to know the identity of the over dealt card.

If the flop needs to be re-dealt because the cards were flopped too early, before the first round of bidding/wagers, or if the flop contains too many cards, the cards on the board are reshuffled again, but the car that has been burned is omitted from the process. After the shuffle, the dealer cuts the deck and deals a new flop, without the burning a new card.

If the dealer deals an extra card in error to the first player (after all the players have received their first starting hand), the card is returned to the deck and is used as one of the cards that is burned. If the dealer deals an extra card in error, then there is another misdeal, and the process of collecting and re-dealing starts again.

If you want to train at Texas Hold'EM then your first port of call is to use the various online casinos free-play mode, this way, you learn how to play, without losing any money.

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How To Play Texas Hold'Em: Part 1