How to play Hold Em  

In Hold Em, players receive two downcards as their personal hand ('hole cards'), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card. The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and their personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand ("play the board"). A dealer button is used. The SPO structure is to use two blinds, the 'Big Blind' and the 'Small Blind'. Dont forget to read our League Rules here.

  Rounds of Betting  
 

1. Opening deal – Each player is dealt two cards face down, which are known as hole cards or pocket cards.

Hole cards

2. First round of betting – Starting with the player to the left of the big blind, each player can call the big blind, raise, or fold. The big blind has the option to raise an otherwise unraised pot.

3. The flop – The dealer burns a card, and then deals three community cards face up. The first three cards are referred to as 'the flop', while all of the community cards are collectively called 'the board'.

The Flop

4. Second round of betting – Starting with the player to the left of the dealer button, each player can check or bet. Once a bet has been made, each player can raise, call, or fold.

5. The turn – The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fourth card face-up to the community cards. This fourth card is known as 'the turn' card, or 'fourth street'.

The Flop
the turn

 

6. Third round of betting – Follows the same format as the second round.

7. The river – The dealer burns another card, and then adds a fifth and final card to the community cards. This fifth card is known as 'the river' card, or 'fifth street'.

The Flop
the turn
the river

8. Final round of betting – Follows the same format as the second and third rounds.

9. The showdown – Using the best five-card combination of their hole cards and the community cards, the remaining players show their hands, with the bettor or last raiser showing first. The highest five-card hand wins the pot. (In case of a tie, the pot is evenly split among the winning hands).

  
  Dealer Button & the Blinds  
 

In No Limit Texas Hold Em, a non-playing dealer normally does the actual dealing, but our events will have each player take turns with the dealing duties. A round, white disk. called the button, is used to indicate which player has the dealer position. The player on the button is last to receive cards on the initial deal and has the right of last action after the first betting round. The button moves clockwise after a deal ends to rotate the advantage of last action.

Two blind bets are used to stimulate action and initiate play. Blinds are posted before the players look at their cards. Blinds are part of a player’s bet. With two blinds, the small blind is posted by the player immediately clockwise from the button, and the big blind is posted by the player two positions clockwise from the button. Action is initiated on the first betting round by the first player to the left of the blinds.

On all subsequent betting rounds, the action begins with the first active player to the left of the button.

The Small Blind represents 1/2 of the minimum bet for that round, while the Big Blind is equal to the minimum bet.   Blinds will regularly be increased with each round, which in turn increases the minimum bet.  You can view the Blind schedule for all regular season events here.