Texas Hold'Em
Texas Hold’em games at Lake Elsinore
Casino use a “dealer button” represented by a
flat disc. In addition to indicating the position of the “dealer” for
that hand, the disc contains general information on what
kind of a game is being played, the game levels ($2-$4, $3-$6,
No-Limit, etc.) and the house and bonus “drop” amounts.
The player with the “dealer button” is last to
receive cards and last to act on all betting rounds except
the first.
Immediately to the left of the dealer
button are one or more “blind” bets. Blinds are
posted before the players receive cards and are part of that
players bet. Blinds are to be considered “live”,
meaning the player has the option of raising after all other
players have acted, the exceptions to this rule are “kill
pots” and “live straddle” bets. The
dealer button and blinds are taken by all players in an consecutive
clockwise order, with every
player posting one little and one big blind per round. Players
cannot miss either of their blinds and still be dealt cards
in the same round. A player who has missed one or more of
their blinds during a round is allowed to “post” the
single-round total amount missed.
Action: Each player receives two (2) cards
face-down as their starting hand, these are their “hole” cards.
After all players have been dealt cards, there is a round
of betting, starting with the player to the left of the blinds,
known as the player in “first position”. Proceeding
clockwise, in turn, each player has the option of folding,
calling the bet or raising the bet. Blinds, having “posted” a
partial or full bet, must either fold, call the bet by completing
it to the correct amount or raise. There is a bet and three
raise limit on all structured games.
The “Flop”: Next, three community
cards, are dealt face-up on the table. All players use these
cards in conjunction with their down cards. There is now
a second round of betting, this time starting with the first
player to the left of the “dealer button”.
Each player, in turn, has the option of
folding, checking or betting. If there is a bet, the rest
of the players have the three options; discarding their cards,
calling the bet or raising the bet. This action continues
clockwise around the table until all players have called
all bets and raises.
The “Turn”: A fourth community
card is dealt face-up, followed by another round of betting,
starting with the first player to the left of the dealer
button with cards. The betting amount limits are now double
of what was bet during that of the pre-flop and flop rounds.
The “River”: The fifth and
last card community card is dealt face-up, with the final
round of betting limits as before.
The “Winner”: Using any combination
of the five board cards and their two “hole” cards,
the player with the best five-card poker hand wins the pot.
Ranking of Hands
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