Texas Hold’em – The most popular Poker Variant in the present time

Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em tops the list of the most popular poker variant in the world. Any platform that offers poker games will have Texas Hold’em as its premium game with a wide selection of tables and stakes for players to choose from.

Texas Hold’em Origin-

The origin of the game dates back to the early 1900s and is officially credited to Robstown, Texas. Crandell Addington, Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim are a few legendary Texas road gamblers who introduced Hold’em to Vegas in 1967 with the first World Series of Poker held in 1970. However, the game was still far from being recognized as the most popular variation until Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event – turning his $40 online satellite buy-in into $2.5 million on national TV.

Since then Texas Hold’em became a common choice for amateurs as well pros.

Texas Hold’em Game Play-

• Hold’em uses forced bets which are called blinds. The player to the left of the dealer/button is the small blind and the next player to the left is the big blind
• Each player is dealt two cards face-down which are referred to as hole cards. The first round of betting begins with the player to the left of the big blind. Each player has three options for betting – either call, raise, or fold
• After the first round of betting, the dealer puts three cards face-up in the middle of the table These cards are referred to as community cards or flop cards. Once the community cards are put on the table, another round of betting starts with the player to the left of the dealer
• The dealer then deals a fourth community card called the Turn, followed by another round of betting, and finally, a fifth community card called the River which is followed by the final round of betting
• The player who has the best 5-card poker hand wins (comprising of any combination of their 2 hole cards and 5 community cards)

Pros and Cons

Pros-

• Simple rules
• Easy to learn
• You can always find a table as per your need

Cons-

• Since it’s the most popular game, the standard/level is always high

Texas Hold’em Variations-

Pineapple and Crazy Pineapple are the two variations of Texas Hold’em. The gameplay is similar to Hold’em except for these important differences –

• Unlike Hold’em, each player is dealt three hole cards
• In Pineapple, players must discard one of their hole cards before the flop
• In Crazy Pineapple, players wait until after they see the flop to discard one of their hole cards