How to Play Poker Texas Hold'em

**How to
Play HDPoker**

**HDPoker is a free-to-play poker
game with high-quality graphics, and it’s quickly gaining popularity. When you
first enter the game, you can choose to view available tables in the Lobby or
be automatically seated at a game by clicking Play Now.**

**Once you’ve done that, buy into a
game using chips we’ve given you for free (when you run out you can buy more or
wait to claim more for free). Then it’s time to play Texas Hold’em.**

**What is
Texas Hold'em?**

Texas
Hold'em is the world's most popular variant of poker, and it is played with
anywhere between 2 and 10 players. The objective of the game is to make the
best five-card poker hand using any combination of the seven cards that are
available to the player by the end of each hand.

The order
of actions during a hand depends on the location of the "dealer
button," which rotates clockwise one player at a time each time that a
hand is completed.

**Pre-flop**

Players
each receive two "hole cards," dealt clockwise starting to the left
of the dealer button. Each player's hole cards are solely his own, and no other
players can see them.

The
player to the immediate left of the dealer button must post the Small Blind,
typically half of the minimum bet, and the player to his left must post the Big
Blind, the minimum bet. The Small Blind and Big Blind are forced bets that are
made at the start of each hand before cards are dealt.

Action
begins to the left of the player in the Big Blind, who can choose to fold, call
the amount of the Big Blind, or raise. Each subsequent player's options depends
on the actions that have taken place before it became his turn. At all times
players must put at least the lesser between their total chip stack and the
amount that the most recent better put into the pot in order to continue in the
hand (otherwise they must fold). To raise, players must raise at least the size
of the most recent bet during a betting round. Once all players have called the
most recent bet or folded, the round is complete.

All games
on HD Poker are played with table stakes; players can only bet the amount they
have at the table.

**Post-flop**

Once the
preflop betting round has completed, three "streets" are played:

1) Three community cards are
dealt face-up; this is called "the flop." A round of betting takes
place.

2) An additional community card,
"the turn," is dealt face up, followed by another round of betting.

3) A final community card,
"the river," is dealt face up, followed by the final round of
betting.

Each round of betting begins to
the left of the dealer button and rotates around the table until all players
have called the most recent bet or folded. If all players with cards check, the
next round is dealt with no additional chips entering the pot. If all players
check on the final round, the hand reaches showdown (see below).

Players may sometimes act
multiple times in a single round of betting before an additional street is
dealt, depending on the actions that take place.

**Showdown**

After all action in a hand has
concluded, all players who still have cards will compare their hands, and the
best hand receives the pot. This stage of the hand is called the
"showdown." A player's hand is determined by taking the 5-card
combination between the player's 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards that
creates the best poker hand.

If two or more players hold hands
of equal value, and that those hands are the best between all players who
reached showdown, the pot is evenly divided between those players.

Once the pot has been awarded,
the button moves one seat to the left and a new hand is dealt.