Texas Holdem
Game description
Texas Hold’em is the most popular variation of the card game of poker. There are three major variants of Texas Hold’em: limit, pot-limit, and no-limit. All variations have the same basic structure and hand values; the betting is what differentiates them.
In Texas hold’em players are trying to make the best five-card poker hand according to traditional poker rankings. In hold’em each player is dealt two cards face down (the “hole cards”), then over the course of subsequent rounds five more cards are eventually dealt face up in the middle of the table. These face up cards are called the “community cards” because each player uses them to make a five-card poker hand.
The five community cards are dealt in three stages. The first three community cards are called the “flop”. Then just one card is dealt, called the “turn”. Finally one more card, the fifth and final community card, is dealt — the “river”.
Players construct their five-card poker hands using the best available five cards out of the seven total cards (the two hole cards and the five community cards). This can be done by using both of the hole cards in combination with three community cards, one hole card in combination with four community cards or no hole cards and playing all five community cards — whatever works to make the best five-card hand. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot.
Deck
As in most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck and no joker.
Table
The game is played on a standard poker table with two to 10 players. Each seated position at the table should have the same minimum and maximum wagering limits during each round of play, as specified by the table limits.
Card Values and Hand Rankings
The rank of each card used in Texas Hold’em when forming a five-card high poker hand, in order of highest to lowest rank, shall be: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. All suits shall be considered equal in rank. The ace would be considered low any time the ace begins a straight or a straight flush.
Before you join to play on poker tables, you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the basic hand rankings. Here are the 10 hands every player should know before joining the action.
- Royal Flush
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Poker’s most famous hand, a royal flush, cannot be beaten. It consists of the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of a single suit. |
- Straight Flush
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Five cards in sequence, of the same suit. In the event of a tie, the highest rank at the top of the sequence wins. |
- Four of a Kind
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Four cards of the same rank, and one side card or ‘kicker’. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest side card (‘kicker’) wins. |
- Full House
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Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank. In the event of a tie, the highest three matching cards wins. |
- Flush
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Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence. In the event of a tie, the player holding the highest ranked card wins. |
- Straight
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Five non-suited cards in sequence. In the event of a tie, the highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins. |
- Three of a Kind
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Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest, and if necessary, second-highest side card (‘kicker’) wins.
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- Two Pair
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Two cards of matching rank, two cards of different matching rank, and one kicker. If both players have an identical Two Pair, the highest kicker wins. |
- Pair
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Two cards of matching rank, and three unrelated side cards. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest, and if necessary, second or third-highest side card wins. |
- High Card
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Any hand that does not qualify under the categories listed. In the event of a tie, the highest card wins, such as ‘ace-high’. |
Game rules
Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular poker variant in the world, and everyone can join the action by learning simple rules.
Your goal is to make the best five-card hand according to Hand rankings which we covered above or bluff your opponent and get him to fold.
In Texas Holdem, every player gets two cards, which are faced down and known as hole cards. You should not show your holdings to anyone in the middle of the hand and only do that when you reach the showdown where you have to show the hand to decide the winner.
The goal of Texas Holdem is to make the winning 5-card combination from your hole and community cards. Community cards are displayed in the middle of the table, and everyone can use those to make a winning hand. There could be up to 5 community cards in Texas Holdem if you see the river. The first three are dealt on the flop, then one on the turn and the last one on the river.
These cards are visible all the time and every player can use those to make a winning hand combined with your holdings. You can use one or both of your cards to make the hand, or you can play the board, which means you are using all five community cards if you are unable to make a better combination with your hole cards.
The player who has the best combination wins if the showdown is reached, but you can always bluff your opponent and take down the pot without it.
Pre-game setup
Before the action starts, we need to decide who is going to be the dealer. Now everyone draws a card and who has the highest ones becomes the dealer in the first hand. After that, the dealer button moves to the left and everyone will be the dealer when it is their turn. If two player draws the card of the same rank (i.e if one player receives 10S and another player receives 10H) in this case the suits determine the dealer: Spades > Hearts >Diamonds > Clubs.
A player to the immediate left of the dealer is SB (small blind), and the player to the left of SB is BB (big blind). Both players have to post the blinds before the hand is even dealt, and that is why the bet called “blind”. In most cases, BB is exactly the double in size of SB or conveniently close to it.
Starting Texas Holdem game
When the dealer is set, and blinds are posted the action can start. As the name suggests dealer is the one who deals the cards, and he starts doing it by giving the first card to the SB and continuing clockwise until everyone gets two cards (meaning there will be two whole circles of dealing one card to each player). The dealer gets the last card if the hand is dealt correctly and then the betting action starts. When you finish playing the hand, the dealer button moves left by one place clockwise, and all action starts from the beginning.
The hand ends when every player folds in any giving betting round, or you see the showdown when all rounds are completed.
First betting round (Preflop)
When all the above steps are complete, blinds set and hands dealt – the first betting round begins. The first to act is the player who is in the immediate left of the big blind.
- He can FOLD – if his hand is weak and he does not want to play it;
- He can CALL – match the amount of the big blind if he chooses;
- He can RAISE – increase the bet to the size that he wants, which follows the limits of the game.
When the first player makes the decision, it is time for one who is sitting in immediate left to him, and all action continues clockwise until everyone makes the decision and matches bet sizes or folds. When a player decides to fold, he is not going to be involved in the hand anymore.
Other players also have these three options and can make a decision based on the strength of their hand if everyone folded until them. For example, if the first player calls, the second one raises, and everyone folds to the first player he can fold, raise or call and see the flop.
When everyone makes their decisions, and the bets are matched (is someone raised, another player called), we going to see the flop.
Second betting round (On the flop)
When the preflop round ends, the first three community cards are dealt on the flop, and everyone can evaluate if it helped to improve the hand with their hole cards.
Now the action starts from the first active player who is left of the dealer and continues clockwise like always. Again, all players have to make their decisions and can choose from:
- betting (placing a bet if no one did that before them),
- checking (passing the action to another player, can only be done if no one bet before you),
- calling (matching the amount of the bet another player made), raising or folding.
Third betting round (On the turn)
When everyone acted, and all bets are matched on the flop, you will see the turn card. After seeing the fourth community card, the entirely new betting rounds begin, and the action follows in the same way as on the flop.
Final betting round (On the river)
The last community card, which you will see is called the river. It is the fifth card that is placed face-up, and everyone can use it to make the winning combination. When the card is displayed, another betting round occurs in the same way as on the previous street. Depending on your spot, you still have an option to check, bet, raise, call or fold. When all the betting action is completed, the remaining player will go into the showdown. After the final round of betting has completed, the hands are revealed, and the pot is awarded. The player with the highest ranking poker hand will win the pot. If there are two hands with identical values, then the pot will be split.
Side Pots
If at any point one player is all-in (that is, has all their money in the pot) and two or more players continue in the hand, besides the all-in player, then a main pot and a side pot is created.
The player who is all in is able to win all of the money in the main pot, but can take no further action on the hand. He will be not be involved in any future betting and will wait until the showdown to see if he has won the main pot. The other players still in the hand will be acting on the side pot. All future betting will be placed in a separate pile, which only the players who are not all-in are eligible for. If there are two or more players involved in the hand, in addition to the all in player, at showdown, the pots will then be awarded.
First the winner of the side pot is determined, the player with the highest ranked hand, who is not all in, will win it. Then, the main pot will be decided, between the all-in player and the winner of the side pot. Whoever has the highest ranked poker hand between those two will win the main pot.
Shuffling information
Our program deals cards using a Fisher-Yates shuffle algorithm.
The entire 52-cards deck is shuffled before every hand. Once the deck of cards has been shuffled, the order of the cards cannot be changed. We do not keep has shuffled deck in permanent storage, in case server restarts we shuffle deck immediately before a hand.
Software that shuffles and deals cards does not give preference to a particular player and can’t affect the outcome of the game. It only deals the cards, and the outcome of the game depends entirely on the actions of the players themselves. The methods we use to shuffle the deck guarantee absolute randomness and unpredictability of the cards dealt.
Disconnection Policy
If a player loses connection, or leaves a game while they have an action pending, the game is considered to be incomplete.
Ring Game
In case a player gets disconnected from the internet, the game detects that and provides additional time which is called “Disconnection Timebank”. The value of disconnection timebank is set in the back office.
If the player does not return after the additional provided time, the action is taken as check if allowed, else cards are folded and player will be moved into Sit Out mode.
For any games that start after player is disconnected, the seat is reserved for the player for the additional time and if player does not rejoin by then, the seat is emptied for another player. Player is not take part of games that start after disconnection to ensure that there is no risk to his/her chips after he/she has been disconnected.
Tournaments
In all tournaments the players will be given unlimited time to re-join in case of disconnection. However, small, big blinds and antes will be posted as applicable in each round till the chip stack becomes zero.
The above rule implies that in each round, you are dealt with the cards and they are folded when your turn comes.
Information on Connection Quality
The game software is not affected by the poor functioning of the player’s devices, with the exception of the operation of procedures established for concluding turns or incomplete games.
Getting Started
- Press “SEAT OPEN” on the chosen seat to open buy-in window
- Press the “-” and “+” buttons to choose buy-in amount
- Press “Ok” to sit down to the table with chosen buy-in
How to play
- Press “Fold” to drop out of the hand
- Press ”Check” to check
- Press “Raise” to raise the previous bet
- Press “Call” to match the highest bet so far made
- You may leave the table at any time by clicking “Exit” icon in the right top corner
- You may stand up from the table by clicking “Stand Up” icon to the left of “Exit” icon
- If you need to add money to the table then click “Add Money to the Table” icon on the right
Table Settings
Multi table: Click “Multi table” icon on the left in top panel to open all your tables simultaneously
Replay: Click “Replay” icon to the right of “Multi table” to open hands history and replay any of them
Table info: Click “Info” icon to the right of “Replay” icon to access information about then table
Menu: Click “Menu” icon to the right of “Info” icon to open menu and change table settings: sound, animation etc.
Fullscreen: Click “Fullscreen” icon to toggle on or off fullscreen mode
Rake values
The following rake values are used for Texas Hold’em.
| Currency | Pot Type | Players | Small Blind | Rake % | Min rake | Max rake |
| Euro | Fixed | 2 – 10 | 0 – 0.5 | 2.5% | 0 | 3 |
| Euro | Fixed | 2 – 10 | 0.51 – 10 | 2.5% | 0.02 | 3 |
| Euro | Fixed | 2 – 10 | > 10 | 2.5% | 0 | 3 |
| Euro | Limit | 2 – 3 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 1 |
| Euro | Limit | 4 – 5 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 2 |
| Euro | Limit | 6 – 10 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 3 |
| Euro | Unlimited | 2 – 3 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 1 |
| Euro | Unlimited | 4 – 5 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 2 |
| Euro | Unlimited | 6 – 10 | – | 2.5% | 0 | 3 |
| Euro | Any (default rake) | – | – | 2.5% | 0 | 3 |