No Limit Texas Hold’em is currently the most popular type of poker in the world today. It is the feature game in multiple tournaments world wide, and is the type of poker that is played in the biggest tournament in the world, the World Series of Poker Main Event. In Texas Hold’em you are dealt two cards face down and there is a small blind and a big blind that rotate around the table. The action starts with the player who is to the left of the big blinds, and goes all the way around until it’s the big blinds turn to act. In No Limit Hold’em, players can bet as much as they want at any point during the hand as well. After the first round of betting is done, the flop is dealt. The flop is three community cards that are face up for all players to use. There is another round of betting following the flop, and then the turn is dealt. The turn is one card, followed by another round of betting. After that, the dealer deals out the river, which is again one card, and there is one final round of betting before the players show their cards.
The idea behind the game is to make the best five card hand that you can make out of the seven cards (your two and the five community cards). A hand will not always make it to the river, if all players have folded to one player before that point. No Limit Hold’em involves more bluffing than most games do, as you may be able to push your opponent off of their hand.
The following are the hand rankings for No Limit Texas Hold’em:
- Royal Flush (A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit)
- Straight Flush (7-8-9-10-J of one suit)
- Four of a Kind (5s-5c-5d-5h)
- Full House (7h-7c-7d-9c-9d)
- Flush (5d-8d-9d-Jd-Ad)
- Straight (4d-5c-6c-7h-8s
- Three of a Kind (9s-9c-9d)
- Two Pair (10s-10d-Jh-Js)
- One Pair (Ac-Ad)
- High Card (Kd-10c-7c-5s-3h King high)
There are a few different types of games to play when it comes to No Limit Texas Hold’em. Both tournament play, and cash games have been become incredibly popular when it comes to No Limit Hold’em, but the two are played in two different ways.
Tournament Style No Limit Texas Hold’em
Tournament play is what you see on TV, such as on the World Series of Poker. Each player buys in to the tournament for a certain amount of money, and every player gets the same number of chips. The blinds start out small (normally around 10/20 or 25/50), and go up as the tournament goes on. The idea behind tournament style poker is to build up your stack as much as possible, if you lose your stack; you are eliminated from play. All of the players buy-in’s go into the prize pool, and a certain percentage of the players are paid out, with first place getting the largest percentage.
Cash Game No Limit Texas Hold’em
Cash game play has become incredibly popular, especially for the professional poker players out there. In a cash game, all players buy in to the game for any amount of money they want (above the minimum). Players will receive chips that equal the value of the amount of money that they buy-in for from there. Cash games have a small and big blind as well, but the blinds do not raise over time like in tournament play. Bluffing is fairly important in cash game play, and players will play a lot wider range of hands in cash games compared to tournaments. The main difference between cash game play is that you are literally playing each hand with money out of your own pocket, rather than playing for chips in a tournament.
All in all, No Limit Texas Hold’em definitely takes the cake as the fan favorite. Whether it be tournament style or cash games, fans and players enjoy the thought of being able to play for all their chips at any point, and also to be able to put out huge bluffs as well. Both No Limit Texas Hold’em tournaments and cash games are available at all online poker sites, so try it out today and see which type of No Limit Hold’em is your favorite!