Casino Texas Hold'em

Few casino games have experienced the same wild success both online and off as Texas Hold'em poker has. Texas Hold'em has quickly become a staple at online poker rooms, frat parties, and family gatherings alike. And the Texas Hold'em craze is only growing. Every day millions of poker players flood to crowded poker rooms in hopes of finding a seat at a prime Texas Hold'em table. If you want to get in on the action, then you're going to want to know a thing or two about this poker game.

Let's start with Texas Hold'em rules. Fortunately, they're virtually identical both online and live, so if you've played before it should be easy to transition to Texas Hold'em online. Like all poker games, Texas Hold'em revolves around the standard 52-card deck. The deck is comprised of four suits (diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades). Each suit contains 13 cards; nine are number cards valued from 2 to 10, three are face cards (Jack, Queen, King), and the final card is the Ace.Texas Hold'em uses the standard poker combinations (from high card all the way up to a Royal Flush) with the chief objective being to build a better hand than your opponents'.

If you learned to play poker with a draw style game like Five Card Draw, then you're going to have to rearrange your playing strategy for Texas Hold'em. Hold'em is one of a handful of poker variations called "community card" games. Each player is initially dealt two cards face down. These cards are called "pocket" or "hole" cards. Based on the strength of this two-card starting hand, players will either fold, bet, or check.

In Texas Hold'em poker, many hands will be folded pre-flop. This initial deal is followed by three subsequent deals to the center of the table. In the first round of community card deals, three cards will be dealt face up to the center of the table. This is called "the flop". Players reassess their hands and then bet again. A fourth card will be dealt face up to the center. This is called "the turn" and is again followed by a round of betting. The fifth and final community card is then dealt face up to the center of the table. This is called "the river". The final deal is followed by a final round of betting and then the "showdown" where each player must reveal his cards. In Texas Hold'em the object is to use your two hole cards and the five community cards to build the best possible five-card hand.

You'll find many excellent Texas Hold'em strategies and tips on the web, but you'll also find many faulty or bogus ones. Your poker strategy should vary depending on whether you're playing in ring games or in a tournament, but these concepts are better left to more advanced players. If you're playing Texas Hold'em for fun, then the best basis for a basic strategy is to only play the top ten starting hands. While the list varies a little from one Texas Hold'em player to the next, the top two or three hands are consistently the same.

Here's a list of the most popular top ten starting hands to get you started with your Texas Hold'em strategy:

1. Pocket Aces (also known as "pocket rockets") are unanimously recognized as the very best starting hand that a player can get.
2. Pocket Kings. Second only to pocket Aces.
3. Pocket Queens. Still a very strong hand.
4. Suited Ace King. Actually ranked third by some players.
5. Suited Ace Queen.
6. Pocket Jacks.
7. Suited King Queen.
8. Suited Ace Jack.
9. Suited King Jack.
10. Pocket Tens. This is often replaced in the ten-spot by suited Ace-Ten.

All of these Texas Hold'em hands give their holders the immediate advantage of a high card. The value of high pairs are obvious, while suited cards give additional outs toward a flush and consecutive cards give outs toward a straight.