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Cigar Lifestyle: Texas Hold ‘Em Basics

Those of you who indulge in the cigar smoker’s lifestyle may sometimes find yourselves with a tiny Kenny Rogers on your shoulder, serving as your conscience, telling you to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.

Those of you who indulge in the cigar smoker’s lifestyle may sometimes find yourselves with a tiny Kenny Rogers on your shoulder, serving as your conscience, telling you to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. Though this concept of poker – knowing when to place a bet or lay your cards down - has never changed, the game itself has been reformed. The days of antes and jokers have been put on the backburners, fed to the card sharks for lunch, to make way for Texas Hold ‘em.

To the card novice, Texas Hold ‘em may sound like a hobby limited to the Lone Star state, like a favorite Texas pastime second to only drilling oil and NRA meetings. But, Texas Hold’em has spent the last few years gaining popularity in all US states, and the entire world. It is now the most popular form of modern day poker. Still, for those who don’t how to play, it can be intimidating.

Texas Hold’em is a stud-like game (at least that’s what it tells itself when it looks in the mirror) where each player is dealt two cards and five community cards are dealt face up in the center of the table. Those playing use their two cards and the five community cards to form the best hand.

In tournament play, as well as home and casino play, Texas Hold’em typically uses table stakes. This means that you must play your cards with the stakes you had on the table when the hand was dealt. If you suddenly realize you have a straight flush or four of a kind, you are not allowed to bet more by taking money out of your wallet, throwing in your wedding ring, or offering up your first born. During table stakes play, you are also not allowed to hide your chips or say that you have more or less than you actually do.

Table stakes bring the concept of “all in” into the game. Once you are down to a small amount of your stakes – or perhaps a large amount - you might go “all in” and bet every chip you have. If you are called and lose the bet, you are out and forced to sit by, drooling at everyone else’s winnings.

In opposition to traditional poker, Texas Hold’em doesn’t require every player to ante every round. Instead, two players must bet blind before each hand is dealt. The person sitting to the dealer’s left is the small blind and the person sitting to the left of the small blind is the big blind. The small blind puts in half of the minimum bet (if the minimum bet is ten dollars, the small blind puts in five), whereas the big blind puts in the minimum bet (if the minimum bet is ten dollars, the big blind puts in ten). With each hand dealt, the dealers and the blinds rotate. Thus, every player will take their turn betting blind. The blinds also increase as time goes on: a game that began with a ten dollar big blind may become a 400 hundred dollar big blind a few hours later.

After each player is dealt two cards, the person to the left of the big blind must act first. This person can fold, raise, or call the big blind (in going with the example above, this means the person would have to put in ten dollars). Then the person to their left goes and so on. When it’s the small blind’s turn, he can either fold, raise, or play. Since he has already put in five dollars, he will only need to put in another five to remain in the game (assuming no one has raised). The big blind can then either raise or check (stay with the present bet).

After the betting is out of the way, people have got their best bluff faces on and their rosary beads out, the dealer “burns” a card by discarding it face down. Then the dealer lies down the “flop,” which consists of three community cards dealt face up. In the round of betting following the flop, the small blind goes first and decides to fold, raise, or check. The betting then continues around the table.

The dealer then burns another card face down and turns a fourth community card face up. This card is called the “turn.” The betting starts again with the small blind and goes around the table. After burning one more card, the dealer deals one last community card face up. This card is called the “river.” Then, one more round of betting begins.

At the end, the players remaining flip their cards over to see who has the best hand. The hierarchy of traditional pokers applies: for example, the best hand you can have is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, four of a kind, a full house, etc.

These are just the basics of Texas Hold’em. There are little details you’ll undoubtedly learn along the way. You might also learn that the only thing better than playing Texas Hold’em with a cigar dangling from your mouth, is winning Texas Hold’em with a cigar dangling from your mouth…and a spare one in your jacket pocket.

Jennifer Jordan is an editor and staff writer for http://www.whatsknottolove.com. At home in a design firm in Denver, Colorado, she writes articles specific to the finer things in life.

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