Texas hold 'em

hitchhiker — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:09:34 GMT

'''Texas hold 'em (also hold'em, holdem''') is the most popular poker game in the casinos and poker card rooms across North America and Europe. Hold 'em is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and the player's own two glossary of poker terms#hole to make a poker hand, in contrast to poker variants like stud poker or draw poker where each player holds a separate individual hand.

After slow but steady gains in popularity throughout the 20th century, hold 'em's popularity surged in the 2000s due to exposure on television, on the Internet, and in popular literature. During this time hold 'em replaced 7 card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos, almost totally eclipsing the once popular game. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Because each player only starts with two cards and the remaining cards are shared, it presents an opportune game for Poker strategy (including Poker probability (Texas hold 'em)). Hold 'em's simplicity and popularity have inspired a wide variety of strategy books which provide recommendations for proper play. Most of these books recommend a strategy that involves playing relatively few hands but betting and raising often with the hands one plays.

Objective

In Texas hold 'em, like all variants of poker, individuals compete for an amount of money contributed by the players themselves (called the pot (poker)). Because the cards are dealt randomly and outside the control of the players, each player attempts to control the amount of money in the pot based on the hand the player holds.

The game is divided into a series of hands or deals; at the conclusion of each hand the pot is awarded to one or a few players. A hand ends either at #The showdown (when the remaining players compare their hands), or when all but one player have Betting (poker)#Fold and abandoned their claims to the pot. The pot is then awarded to the player(s) who have not folded and have the best poker hand. (This is usually only one player, but can be more in the case of a split (poker).)

The objective of winning players is not winning every individual hand, but rather making mathematically correct decisions. By making such decisions, winning poker players maximize their long run winnings, which is achieved by maximizing their expected utility on each round of betting.

History

Johnny Moss, Chill Wills, Amarillo Slim, Jack Binion, and Puggy Pearson outside of Binion's Horseshoe in 1974

Although little is known about the invention of Texas hold 'em, the Texas State Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas as the game's birthplace, dating the game to the early 1900s.

After its invention and spread throughout Texas, hold 'em was introduced to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1967 by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim. Addington said the first time he saw the game was in 1959. "They didn't call it Texas hold 'em at the time, they just called it hold 'em... I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you only bet twice; hold 'em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man's game."

For several years the Golden Nugget Las Vegas in Downtown Las Vegas was the only casino in Las Vegas to offer the game. At that time, the Golden Nugget's poker room was "truly a 'sawdust joint,' with... oiled sawdust covering the floors." Because of its location and decor, this poker room did not receive many rich drop-in clients, and as a result, professional players sought a more prominent location. In 1969, the Las Vegas professionals were invited to play Texas hold 'em at the entrance of the now-demolished Dunes (hotel and casino) on the Las Vegas Strip. This prominent location, and the relative inexperience of poker players with Texas hold 'em, resulted in a very remunerative game for professional players.

During this time, Doyle Brunson's revolutionary poker strategy guide, Super/System was first published. A few years later, Al Alvarez published a book detailing an early World Series of Poker event.

Interest in hold 'em outside of Nevada began to grow in the 1980s as well. Although California had legal card rooms offering draw poker, Texas hold 'em was prohibited under a statute which made illegal the now unknown game "stud-horse". However in 1988, Texas hold 'em was declared legally distinct from "stud-horse" in Tibbetts v. Van De Kamp, 271 Cal. Rptr. 792 (1990). Almost immediately card rooms across the state offered Texas hold 'em. (It is often presumed that this decision ruled that hold 'em was a skill game, but the distinction between skill and chance has never entered into California jurisprudence regarding poker.

The hold 'em explosion

In the first decade of the 21st century, Texas hold 'em experienced a surge in popularity worldwide. the appearance of television commercials advertising online cardrooms, and the 2003 World Series of Poker championship victory by online qualifier Chris Moneymaker.

Hold 'em first caught the public eye as a spectator sport in the United Kingdom with the Late Night Poker TV show in 1999. Fueled by the introduction of hole cam, which allowed spectators to see the players' private cards, hold 'em exploded in popularity as a spectator sport in the United States and Canada in 2003. ESPN's coverage of the World Series of Poker, 2003 featured the unexpected victory of Internet player Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who gained admission to the tournament by winning a series of online tournaments. Moneymaker's victory initiated a sudden surge of interest in the World Series, based on the egalitarian idea that anyone – even a rank novice – can become a world champion.

In 2003, there were 839 entrants in the WSOP Main Event, and triple that number in 2004. The crowning of the World Series of Poker, 2004 champion, Greg Raymer, a patent attorney from Connecticut, further fueled the popularity of the event among amateur (and particularly internet) players. In the World Series of Poker, 2005, an unprecedented 5,619 entrants vied for a first prize of $7,500,000. The winner, Joe Hachem of Australia, was a semi-professional player. This growth continued in 2006, with 8,773 entrants and a first place prize of $12,000,000 (won by Jamie Gold).

Beyond the World Series, other television shows – including the long running World Poker Tour – are credited with increasing the popularity of Texas hold 'em. poker has now become a regular part of sports networks' programming in the United States. McManus, a poker amateur, finished 5th in the No-Limit Texas Hold 'em main event, winning over $200,000.

Online poker

Poker revenues from Party Gaming (2002-2006). The drop off in 2006 is due to the UIGEA.

The ability to play cheaply and anonymously online has been credited as a cause of the increase in popularity of Texas hold 'em.

Play of the hand

There are only two private cards in hold 'em. They are dealt first.

Play begins with each player being dealt two Playing card face down. (Like most poker games, the deck is a standard 52 card deck, no jokers.) These cards are the player's hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown (poker), making Texas hold 'em a closed (poker) poker game.

The hand begins with a "pre-flop" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has either folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. See betting for a detailed account. Note that the blinds are considered "live" in the pre-flop betting round, meaning that they contribute to the amount that the blind player must contribute, and that, if all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop (poker), three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continue clockwise.

After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn (poker) or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river (poker) or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

In all casinos, the dealer will burn card a card before the flop, turn, and river. Because of this burn, players who are betting cannot see the back of the next community card to come, which might be marked. although the full consequences for optimal strategies remain to be explored. In addition, a group at the University of Alberta is developing a poker playing program utilizing techniques in game theory and artificial intelligence.

Starting hands

A pair of aces is statistically the best hand to be dealt in Texas Hold'em Poker

Because there are only two cards dealt to each player, it is easy to characterize all of the starting hands. There are (52 × 51) ÷ 2 = 1,326 distinct possible combinations of two cards from a standard 52-card deck. Because high card by suit (poker), many of these can be equated for the analysis of starting-hand strategy. For example, although and are distinct combinations of cards, they are of equal value as starting hands.

Viewed this way there are only 169 different hole-card combinations. Thirteen of those hands would be pairs, from 2 through ace. There are 78 ways to have two cards of dissimilar rank (12 possible hands containing an ace, 11 possible hands containing a king and no ace, 10 possible hands containing a queen and no ace or king, etc.). Hole cards can both be used in a Hand rankings#Flush if they are suited, but pairs are never suited, so there would be 13 possible pairs, 78 possible suited non-pairs, and 78 possible unsuited non-pairs, for a total of 169 possible hands. Suited starting cards are usually considered stronger than unsuited hands, although the magnitude of this strength in different games is debated.

Because of this limited number of starting hands, most strategy guides involve a detailed discussion of each of these 169 starting hands. This separates hold 'em from other poker games where the number of starting card combinations forces strategy guides to group hands into broad categories. Another result of this small number is the proliferation of colloquial names for individual hands.

Cash games

:

Prior to the invention of poker tournaments, poker games were played with real money where players bet actual currency (or chips which represented currency). Games which feature wagering actual money on individual hands are still very common and are referred to as "cash games" or "ring games".

The betting (poker)#No limit and betting (poker)#Fixed limit cash game versions of hold 'em are strategically very different. Doyle Brunson claims that "the games are so different that there are not many players who rank with the best in both types of hold 'em. Many no-limit players have difficulty gearing down for limit, while limit players often lack the courage and 'feel' necessary to excel at no-limit."

Tournaments

Man going 'all in' during a Texas Holdem poker tournament

Texas hold 'em is often commonly associated with poker tournaments largely because it is played as the main event in many of the famous tournaments, including the World Series of Poker's Main Event, and is the most common tournament overall. Traditionally, a poker tournament is played with poker chip that represent a player's stake in the tournament. Standard play allows all entrants to "buy-in" a fixed amount and all players begin with an equal value of chips. Play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips in play. The money pool is redistributed to the players in relation to the place they finished in the tournament. Usually only a small percentage of the players receive any money, with the majority receiving nothing. As a result the strategy in poker tournaments can be very different from a cash game.

Proper strategy in tournaments can vary widely depending on the amount of chips one has, the stage of the tournament, the amount of chips others have, and the playing styles of one's opponents.

Similar games

There are several other poker variants which resemble Texas hold 'em. Hold 'em is a member of a class of poker games known as community card poker, where some cards are available for use by all the players. There are several other games that use five community cards in addition to some private cards and are thus similar to Texas hold 'em. Royal hold 'em has the same structure as Texas hold 'em, but the deck contains only Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Tens.

Community card poker#Manila is a hold'em variant popular in Australia. In Manila, players receive two private cards from a reduced deck (containing no cards lower than 7). A five card board is dealt, unlike Texas hold 'em, one card at a time; there is a betting round after each card. Manila has several variations of its own, similar to the variants listed above.<ref></ref>

References

[[Category:Texas hold 'em| ]]
[[Category:Poker variants]]

[[bg:Texas Hold 'em]]
[[ca:Texas hold 'em]]
[[cs:Texas Hold'em]]
[[da:Texas Hold'em]]
[[de:Texas Hold’em]]
[[el:Πόκερ χόλντεμ]]
[[es:Texas hold 'em]]
[[eo:Teksasa komunkarta pokero]]
[[fr:Texas hold'em]]
[[gl:Texas hold'em]]
[[it:Texas Hold'em]]
[[he:טקסס הולדם]]
[[lb:Texas hold'em]]
[[hu:Texas Hold’Em]]
[[nl:Texas Hold 'em]]
[[ja:テキサス・ホールデム]]
[[no:Texas hold'em]]
[[pl:Texas Hold'em]]
[[pt:Texas hold'em]]
[[simple:Texas hold 'em]]
[[fi:Texas hold 'em]]
[[sv:Texas hold'em]]
[[tr:Texas hold 'em]]
[[zh:德州撲克]]