The topic of our today's article is Texas Hold'em, it is this type of poker is by far the most popular both in the live, so to speak variant and on the Internet - in its online versions.

It should be noted at once that the biggest poker tournaments, such as WSOP - The World Series of Poker, are held in this discipline. That is, in almost all such tournaments the main direction is Texas Hold'em.

The popularity of this type of poker is constantly growing. Books are being written about it, training videos are being made, land-based and online Texas Hold'em schools are being opened, such institutions are very relevant and widespread all over the world.

History of Texas Hold'em

Let's dive a little into the history of the origin of this game. Specialists tend to the version that it first appeared, as you can see from the name, in the American state of Texas, in the city of Robstown in drinking establishments, where the main mass of customers were cowboys, farmers and prospectors. At that time, and it was approximately 1900, one of the largest states in America was filled with people in search of money and ready for adventure.

A little later, Texas Hold'em conquered the capital of its home state - the city of Austin - and began its world tour. A little over half a century later, this type of poker won the gambling houses of Las Vegas. It was enough for a few bright players, such as Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Crandle Addington, to catch on and infect everyone else.

In 1970 the first Texas Hold'em poker tournament appeared and the winner of it was Johnny Moss - who later received the original nickname "the grand old man of poker" he was the pioneer of this discipline and managed to become its honorable and famous veteran.

The essence of Texas Hold'em

The main task of every poker player is to win against all other participants of the table. And professionals argue that this can only be achieved by using logic and math. In their opinion, good results and big wins can only be achieved over the long haul, without chasing the small fortunes of each new hand.

To collect his strongest combination, and they have their own hierarchy of cards in Texas Hold'em, a player can from the seven offered, so to speak, cards - using only five - namely: two of his closed cards and three of the five that in the process of the game, laid out on the table for all players.

From the Senior Card combination to the coveted Royal Flush, all of them have their own chance to win and their own rules for strengthening and successful draws. At such times, players pay attention to many things: the seat they are playing at, the betting limits, the size of blinds - mandatory bets and, of course, the bankroll (their budget and the budgets of their opponents). Texas Hold'em, as well as other types of poker, loves thinking people.

The main varieties of Texas Hold'em

There are three main variants of Texas Hold'em: the first is Limit Texas Hold'em. In this format, participants can bet and raise in strict accordance with the specified limits.

Suppose the game is played on a poker table, where the stakes are 5/10 dollars/rubles/euros and the like - so in the minimum variant at the initial stages (preflop and flop) you can bet only five dollars/euros, then - on the turn and river ten dollars/euros. And the maximum will be equal to four minimum bets - four times five = 20 dollars/Euros on preflop and flop and 40 (four times 10) dollars/Euros - on turn and river.

The second type is Pot-Limit Texas Hold'em. In this type of poker, the maximum allowable bet size directly depends on the size of the pot. Here at each stage of trading the amount that can be bet by the poker player directly depends on one of two factors - on the size of the previous bet made or on the size of the big blind. Example - on the flop the pot size is $20/euro and someone in front of us has bet ten dollars/euro, then our range for a raise is from $30 to $40/euro respectively.

No-Limit Texas Hold'em or NL, in which a player bets as much as his own stack (the number of chips he owns) allows. At any stage of the game, the participant has the right to bet any amount, but not less than the limit of the table at which he plays, and not less than the player in front of him. Playing no-limit Texas Hold'em, you can bet all-in - that is, put your entire stack. It is in this variant of poker most often observed maximums - the biggest wins and the biggest losses.

Today Texas Hold'em is not just a separate type of poker, it is a separate game, which is played by more than ninety percent of all poker players. So the Olympus is conquered and new names of real legends of this discipline appear in the list of poker whales. The prize money at popular tournaments is staggering in the number of zeros, and the best players collect not only the sympathy of fans and media attention, but also their multi-million dollar fortunes.