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. (see “Rule Exceptions”) 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.