Learn the world’s favourite card game at Burswood

Poker is a great social game that’s easy to learn, and great fun even if you’re a novice. As Poker is a game of luck and skill, you can start winning from the get go.

How to Play Burswood Hold’em Poker

The object of any game of Poker is to compete with other players at the table to make the best hand possible and win the pot.

There are two main versions of Hold’em:

Limit Hold’em - A minimum bet will be determined for each of the betting rounds, all raises will be equal to the minimum bet for that betting round and there will be a maximum of three raises per betting round. E.g. in a $10/$20 game the first two betting rounds are $10 and any raise must be a further $10. The last two betting rounds are $20 and again any subsequent raises are in increments of $20. This is the most popular version of the game.

½ Pot Hold’em, Pot Limit Hold’em or No Limit Hold’em - The minimum and maximum wagers shall be determined prior to the commencement of the game and the maximum wager will be an amount equal to half the pot, the full pot, or an unlimited amount. In No Limit Hold’em, a player may wager any or all of his/her stake at any time.

A hand of Hold’em starts with the two players to the left of the dealer button required to make forced bets.

These are called the SMALL BLIND and BIG BLIND. The big blind is usually twice as much as the small blind. The blinds are determined before the hand starts. The reason for paying blinds is to start a POT. The POT is the accumulation of money in the middle of the table. If there was no money in the POT to begin with, there would be nothing for the players to compete for.

The dealer position has a small, round “marker” in front of him, called a DEALER BUTTON. This signifies who shall receive the last card of each round of play. That’s why you’ll often hear the words “on the button”… that’s the dealer position and this is moved clockwise at the end of each hand.

After two players put in the small and big blinds respectively, each player is dealt TWO CARDS face-down. These are called your “hole cards”.

Example hole cards:

Now, each player has the opportunity to CALL THE BLINDS, MAKE A RAISE or FOLD. If someone makes a raise, the next player will have to call the raise to stay in the hand. The action always moves clockwise.

The person to the IMMEDIATE LEFT of the big blind is first to act. This player is known to be in FIRST POSITION… commonly referred to as “under the gun” (or “UTG”). If no one raises the pot, the last person to act is the player who put in the big blind. He has an option to CHECK (and the communal cards will be dealt) or he can bet (and start another round of action at the table).

Once everyone has called all bets and raises (or folded), it’s time to deal the first three communal cards called the FLOP.

The dealer places three cards FACE-UP on the centre of the table…

Example flop:

Now another round of betting begins. For the rest of the hand, the action will start with the person to the IMMEDIATE LEFT of the dealer button and move clockwise… with the dealer acting LAST in any round of action.

Once the second round of betting is finished, the dealer places a fourth communal card on the table. This card is commonly known as the TURN CARD. Once again, players have a betting round where they can check, bet, raise or fold.

Example turn card:

Then, the dealer turns over the fifth and final card known as the RIVER card. Then, the final round of betting begins. At the completion of this betting round, any remaining players will SHOWDOWN their cards to determine a winner.

The winner is the person with the strongest five card hand. It is not necessary to use both cards in your hand to make a winning hand.

That means that you can use both, one or none of your hole cards to make the best five card hand. You can use any combination of the seven cards available (five communal and your two hole cards)

So in our example hand our player who started with Ah Kh would have two pair, Aces and Kings.

So now that you have an idea of the game, why not head down to the Burswood Poker Room and play your hand?