Texas Holdem Tips


Betting in Texas Holdem

Deciphering the betting structure might be a first time Holdem players’ biggest challenge. Terms like dealer button, big blind, small blind and straddle are sufficient to confound even those players who have spent decades playing additional poker varieties. Never fear. With a little explaining and some table time, you too can master Texas Holdem wagering.

In a standard house game, the dealer generally calls the game, shuffles the cards and deals out. The player to his left is then responsible for beginning the action. This leaves the dealer to act last giving him a distinct advantage. In house games each participant takes turn dealing. Therefore, the benefit of acting last is passed evenly to all the participants.

In a structured Texas Holdem game, the casino or card room provides the dealer. By the rules of a regular house game, this would give the participant to the right of the dealer the benefit of acting last in each round. To get rid of this advantage the “DEALER BUTTON” was introduced. This small button, or chip, is passed around the table after each hand. The player whom the dealer button is in front of is considered the dealer of that hand. While he does not actually deal the cards, he is awarded all the advantages of being the dealer. The casino dealer will start dealing the hand to the left of the dealer button. When it is time to bet, the person who possesses the dealer button will be last to go. Once the hand is over, the dealer button is passed to the next player to the left.

Another problem was getting the action started or making sure there was always money in the pot for each hand. Casinos or card rooms make money off a rake, a small percentage of each pot. The rake is how they maintain the game and pay the dealers. No action means no money to keep the game going. The solution was to develop forced bets, or “BLINDS”, to ensure that each hand has money in the pot. Blinds are assigned to the two participants directly to the left of the participant possessing the dealer button. This is done to ensure that as the dealer button moves around the table, so will the blinds.

Normally blinds are broken up into two forced bets, a “SMALL BLIND” and a “BIG BLIND”. The small blind is placed by the first participant to the left of the dealer button and is normally half of the opening bet. For example in a $10/$20 Texas Holdem game the small blind would be $5. The second player to the left of the dealer button then places the big blind. The big blind is normally equal to the opening bet. For the example above, the big blind would be $10.

Once the blinds are placed and the cards are dealt, each participant left of the big blind has the opportunity to call, raise or fold. Once the action goes around the table, the small blind might complete the bet or fold. Folding would forfeit his small blind. The big blind then has one last chance to raise before the flop is dealt.

In some rare cases a casino may allow for a “STRADDLE”. A straddle is an additional blind that is not forced. The person to the left of the big blind may select to place a straddle bet, which equals double the amount of the big blind. A straddle bet is a raise before anyone has seen his or her cards. When somebody elects to straddle, it changes the future wagering rounds by making it double as much to call. Essentially, a straddle will turn a $10/$20 game into a $20/$40 for that hand. If you ever hear the dealer declare that a participant has chose to straddle, be mindful that if you wish to call you need to match his initial raise.

As I stated earlier, wagering in Texas Holdem is one of the most important aspects of the game. Hopefully, this article shed some light on the basic wagering structure used in most Texas Holdem and other games where casino dealers are used. For the best place to play Texas Holdem online, click here to visit PokerStars.


Article provided by The Poker Source

 

 

 

 

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