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Its easy to learn how to play Texas Holdem poker for NL. NL stands for <i>No Limit</i>. No Limit Texas Holdem Poker is one of the most popular forms of poker in the world today. What makes NL poker stand apart from some other types of poker is the fact that at any time you can bet as much as you want up to no limit. Of course you have to have the amount of money you want to bet but that is the only restriction.

<b>Learn How To Play Texas Holdem Poker For NL</b>

Texas Holdem Poker is usually played with 8 players at a table. You can play with less players then this if there aren’t enough playerd. When there are only two players playing this is known as <i>heads up</i>. The table will have a dealer. There will be a dealer button that signifies where the dealer ‘is’. Each hand this moves to the next player around the table. The two players in front of the dealer are the <i>big blind</i> and the <i>small blind</i>. They have to post a certain amount of chips without being able to see their cards (hence ‘blind’).

The game starts and every player will get two cards. These are <i>hole cards</i>, or <i>pocket cards</i>, or <i>down cards</i>. These are your two cards and only you get to use them. A round of betting will occur. At a minimum if you want to play you will have to <i>call</i> the big blind which is the largest amount on the table. If someone <i>raises</i> you will have to call them or <i>reraise</i> them or you can fold. The minimum amount to raise or reraise is the amonut of the big blind. Once everyone has made their move, either called up to the maximum bet for the round or <i>folded</i>, the dealer will deal will pull all the chips into the middle, which is the <i>pot</i>.

<b>The Flop, Turn and River</b>

The dealer <i>burns</i> a card (this means he throws away the top card of the deck) and deals the <i>flop</i>. The <i>flop</i> consists of <i>three</i> cards placed face up on the table. These are known as <i>community cards</i>. Everyone gets to use these. By the end of the game there will be a total of five community cards. Each player must make the best possible five card hand with their own personal hole cards and the five community cards. After the flop is dealt there is a round of betting starting from the first player left of the dealer. This player can <i>check</i> (bet nothing), <i>raise</i> or <i>fold</i>. If he checks the next player also has the opportunity to check and it continues. If anyone bets you now cannot check and must either call that bet or fold. You can <i>reraise</i> if you like.

After all bets are done and the chips have been pulled into the pot the dealer will <i>burn</i> another card and then deal <i>one</i> more card, the <i>turn</i>, also called <i>fourth street</i>. Again, similar to before, betting starts from the first player left of the dealer. He can check, raise or fold. Like before, as soon as someone raises no one can check anymore. Sometimes every player just checks and the next card is dealt. More often though at least one person will bet and then you have to call that bet, or you can reraise or fold. This continues around until everyone has either folded or called up to the maximum amount bet. The dealer again pulls all the chips into the pot.

The dealer burns his last card and places the final community card on the table. This is called the <i>river</i> or <i>fifth street</i>. Now no more cards will come into play and the players know for sure their best five card hand. One final round of betting will take place in exactly the same format as before. After every player has acted the dealer brings all the chips into the pot and its time for the <i>showdown</i>. The player who initiated the final round of betting has to show his cards first and then everyone else shows their cards. The person with the best overall hand wins.

<b>Texas Holdem Poker Hands</b>

The different Texas Holdem Poker hands are easy to learn. I’ll do them in order from worst to best. Remember S=Spades, C=Clubs, D=Diamonds, H=Hearts.

1) Nothing, aka Highcard.
This is just five plain cards, i.e 7D-5S-4C-3C-2H
2) Pair
Two of you cards are the same number and three plain cards, i.e 2H-6H-10C-Jc-JS
3) Two Pair
Two pairs and one plain card, i.e AC-7S-7D-QC-QH
4) Three Of A Kind
Three of your cards are the same number and two plain cards, i.e JH-5S-8C-8S-8D
5) Straight
Five cards that are consecutive numbers, i.e. 3D-4H-5C-6S-7S.
6) Flush
Five cards that are all the same suit. They can be any numbers, i.e AS-8S-6S-4S-3S
7) Full House
A Three of a kind and the other two cards are a pair, i.e KD-KH-3S-3D-3C
Four Of A Kind
Four of your cards are the same number and one plain card, i.e JH-JD-JS-JC-9S
9) Straight Flush
Five consecutive numbered cards <b>and</b> they are all the same suit, i.e 4H-5H-6H-7H-8H
10) Royal Flush
The top five cards <b>and</b> all the same suit, i.e 10H-JH-QH-KH-AH

<b>More Things To Remember</b>

1) At any point in time anyone can go <i>all-in</i> which means they are betting all their chips. This is the essence of No Limit Texas Holdem Poker. If you want to continue playing you must call the amount that was bet.
2) Even though there are seven cards to use in total – the five community cards and your own two hole cards – your best hand is the best five cards of these seven.
3) Don’t bet out of turn. Always wait for the person before you to check, raise or fold before you make your move.

To stay and play or not to stay and play, that is the question. If we leave too early, we are tortured by the thought of future potentially winning hands. If we leave too late, we have already lost our shirts and not potentially, which is even worse, especially that last grisly hour. We will never know why we overstayed our hand and are doomed to repeat the error when next we face the table.

It is crucial to be able to stay or leave based on a logical analysis of the situation, not an emotional impulse. If logically you have matters to attend to – liking picking up your wife and kids or attending work – you must be able to leave immediately. Sometimes a desperate hope for by now certainly imminent better luck is so strong that you miss dates and business appointments. But, the longer you stay overdue, the worse you play, because you know you are supposed to be elsewhere and that possibly your are ruining your life and career.

If poker is supposed to be entertainment but you are not enjoying it – this is a good reason to leave early, before the game becomes a tangle nightmare of bad moves and worse moods. You often see player who take up poker as recreation, but when a game gets too much for them, they cannot leave, and yet they cannot play. They stay out of some sort of perverse compulsion to prolong their torment, not willing to walk out losers. They stay and become greater losers with every losing new hand, instead of accepting good-naturedly accepting the situation – which is merely pastime anyway – and leaving the table, remaining in a good mood, and perhaps trying another game later at another table.

To overcome such pitfalls, the source of the problem must be discovered, and that can be done by the realization that the problem has nothing to do with the game intrinsically. If you insist on performing a pointless activity of self-torture that you cannot possibly enjoy but neither can you get up and walk away from, you have a problem. If you are not staying at the table for the poker, then you are deluding yourself and avoiding what is really troubling you.

This behavior is undoubtedly manifesting itself in other aspects of your life as well. You must refocus to help you uncover the source of your problem. Don’t waste any more time wondering dumbly why you have once again overstayed your playing time by that murderous extra hour and try to concentrate on envisioning yourself in your other day-to-day activities. This may allow you the insight to discover incidences totally unrelated to your poker game where your behavior is the same.

The problem may lie in not facing the fact that you hate your job, or owning up to a real feeling of grief that you have suppressed for a long time. If you are able to make a connection, you may be able to stop kicking yourself and enjoy the reality of life and of poker.

The author of this article plays online poker and gets Rakeback at Red Star Poker where they offer the highest Red Star Rakeback.

To help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of particular poker games, I offer the following brief analysis. Those who have ever played poker online are aware that limit poker was once the most avidly played game on the net. The internet still offers quite a few low and medium limit games, and a few in the $100 to $200 range. The limit game is still easily found online and will continue to be in the future, particularly since only a few players are of the $20 to $40 level of expertise.

There are beaucoup books written exclusively on limit games. The multitude and availability of the literature devoted to the game gives it a major advantage. The game is thoroughly studied and an apt student can learn much from these books along with experience at the table. The decision making process is not terribly complicated in limit hold’em and basic mathematical aptitude can lead to instant mental calculations while involved in a game.

Moreover, dispersion is less of a threat in limit games. That coldly calculating deity determines the chances of every player involved at a given moment and even the worst and unluckiest rookie may luck out (if you don’t want to go into actual statistics, just read any of Terry Pratchett’s hapless-Rincewind novels for a dramatization of this point of games and life).

As a rule, any and all poker games are subject to the mathematical phenomenon of statistical dispersion, i.e. major losses are part of even the most expert player’s game, and it is this fact that stops folks from indulging in any game of poker. Limit poker is not as mentally intense as no-limit and tournament games, which involve high dispersion. You don’t need a lot of funding to play Limit Hold’em and like the large quantity of literature on the subject , there are computer programs specifically designed for limit poker – Poker Tracker and Poker Office will help low limit players especially. These programs can be used both during the game and after whenever an analysis of any part of the game is called for or to make statistical calculations.

The above advantages lead to one of the few disadvantages of limit poker. There is an ever enlarging pool of experienced, knowledgeable opponents. So while the game is highly accessible, it is becoming less profitable. Non-virtual poker venues make their money chiefly from the rather small rake reducing the pot during every round. These rooms depend on their profits not from the number of players they attract. What keeps them running is at the end of a series of games, the percentage from the total hands played may make their income rise to amazing sums. The limit games that include expert players may be not only less profitable but may actually result in a loss.

While the availability of limit poker is not a problem online, off line is another story. There is little exposure in the non-virtual world because limit poker does not include the features that make a poker game attractive to casinos and card clubs. It is the camaraderie around the table, the laughter and chatter, that makes the game rewarding and memorable to most people. This cannot be found online but requires a group around a table. The limit player gets his thrills from the true essence of poker – the combination of cards.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Cake Poker Rakeback as well as Rakeback at Poker Heaven.