By Jerry Whittaker

There is no doubt about the fact that Texas Hold em Poker is the most popular form of poker played anywhere online, as well as in the world of the live tournament. In fact many new poker players believe that this is the only form of the game there is. Often shortened to simply “holdem” Texas Hold em poker may also be played in different ways and if you are going to really get involved with playing, best you know all the variations. There are Limit, No-limit and Pot-limit games which have rules that are relevant to betting; then each “Limit” variation, requires a specific strategy to be played optimally.

Texas Hold em poker is a community card game; this means that players are dealt two hole cards each, while sharing five common or community cards. As with most poker games the last man standing wins, and players combine their hole cards with the community ones cards to make the best five card poker hand. If a player calls – the only remaining hand wins.

Texas Hold em Poker, Basic Structure For the Beginner

If you are a beginner poker player this game is the best to begin with; games such as 7 Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, Draw Poker and others are also great fun to play, but truly not nearly as easy to learn. Holdem can be learned in a matter of minutes and within a few hours of practice, the newbie can be playing quite well. It is important to know that that once the poker bug bites; the more often you play, the better your game will be. Poker is a game where the player is learning; all their poker-life long.

The game all starts with understanding the limit and betting structure, and the only real way to understand this is with practice, while in-play. Blinds and antes need to be posted and these are the initial wager amounts – they get the game started. A deck of 52 cards is used and dealer gives each player their two hole or pocket cards. A pre-flop round of betting takes place before the community cards are dealt and the same betting options are available for every Texas Hold em poker round. The player will either call, raise, or fold.

Thereafter the dealer “burns” (discards) the top card on the deck and flips the next three cards in the pack to a face-up position on the table; this is called the “flop”; these three cards are community cards. The player left of the dealer starts this betting round – once the round is completed another card is burned and a community card is dealt, this is called the “turn”. The betting begins again and this is generally where the prize pot starts to grow. The last community card is dealt after this betting round and another burn, and this is called the “river”. Now the Texas Hold em poker player can use any of the five cards on the table, plus their hole cards to make up a five-card poker hand. The final round of betting takes place, and that is the basic structure of this game. Simple!

By Jerry Whittaker

This line is often seen written on men’s room walls in casinos and while we can’t write it on the men’s room walls at casinos online, the same principle still applies. The good news is that playing at casinos online makes you no more susceptible to problem gambling than would playing at live casinos. Problem gambling seems to be a problem for governments, organizations and associations who don’t have a problem with gambling, they have a problem where the money generated from this industry goes. This subject comes up time and again and in a recent crackdown on US poker rooms by the Department of Justice; again, people who play at casinos online have had their morality questioned.

In terms of the legality of playing online poker or any other gambling game for that matter, the US citizen has once again been sidelined. The cheek of the US Government is such that they have said, they have “the right to place restrictions which were necessary to protect public morality”. Their argument in favor of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and obviously regarding American morality!

Many people believe that this is a protectionist law, even Phil Gordon who is a poker pro says that it is a complete travesty when a government legislates morality; when it is truly all in the name of money. At one time, when online poker was being played in the US but a felony in Washington State; he was compelled to travel from his home in Washington State to his office in Idaho in order to play. Now the Department of Justice is not tolerating any online poker in the US at all, accusing operators of “money laundering and fraud”, while land casinos still continue to serve up as much poker as they “morally” see fit.

Most experts in the US who are in favor of playing at casinos online, are in favor, not necessarily because they are gamblers, but because they see the duality of the situation. UIGEA is believed to have been promulgated for economic reasons alone – at the time that it was brought into law, it was a well known fact that major Las Vegas gambling concerns – Wynn and the Tribal casinos amongst others, with Harrah’s as the only exception; believed that online gambling would cannibalize their existing business. “It’s only a problem if you are losing” and this is how land gambling companies saw casinos online affecting their business, and what an almighty mess it is now?!

Barney Frank – U.S. Rep. (D-Mass.), and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has been the most vocal advocate for casinos online, in particular online poker; he believes that the intolerance in terms of the free enterprise of this industry has been appalling. No-one should have the sense that they have the right to dictate other people’s lives. The arrogance of people in Government who say they know what’s best for you, is nothing short of dictatorial as far as I am concerned.