Before the pre-flop, the two players to the left of the dealer must bet $1 (these mandatory bets are called blinds, since the player must make them before she sees her cards). We are going to use a $1/$2 betting structure. refuse to match an opponent's bet, as described below), or by having everyone else fold. A hand is won by having the best hand among the players who did not fold (i.e. The object of the game is to form the best five-card hand possible using the player's two cards and the five 'community cards' dealt in the middle of the table. Each hand has four stages, and after each stage there is a round of betting. One player is the dealer (this role rotates clockwise after each hand), and bets are placed in a clockwise order starting with the player on the dealer's left. RulesĮach hand is played with a whole deck. It is also the variant played at the World Series of Poker and on the World Poker Tour. While poker is played in a multitude of variations, Texas Hold'em is the version played most often at casinos and is the most popular among the 'community cards' variants of poker. Poker is one of the most popular card games, especially among betting games.