Texas Hold ‘Em tests both your smarts and your ability to play down and dirty. Now, there’s a combination we can get behind.

Here’s How Betting Works:

Blinds are two forced bets that are placed with every hand. The small blind, placed by the player to the left of the dealer is usually half of the low limit bet amount. The big blind, placed by the person to the left of the player who placed the small blind, is equal to the low limit bet size.

The Rules

After shuffling the cards, the dealer deals two ‘hole cards’ – face down – to each player around the table before the betting begins. In a typical game of Texas Hold ‘Em, there are four betting rounds – the Preflop, the Flop, the River and the Showdown.

In the Preflop round, the player to the left of the two players who laced the blind bets, begins by betting. Subsequent players, in turn, can choose to either fold, call or raise, depending on their dealt cards. The top card of the deck is ‘burned’ (removed) to ensure that no cheating is taking place in the game.

Then the Flop round begins. The next three cards in the deck are placed face up on the poker table. Players can use these communal flop cards to create their best poker hand, combined with their own two cards. A new betting round begins, this time initiated by the player sitting to the left of the dealer. Again, players can fold, call or raise. When the betting ends, another card is burned from the top of the deck, and a fourth card is flipped over on to the table.

The River round begins with further betting. After burning a card off the top of the deck, the dealer flips over one final card – known as the river – onto the table. The player to the left of the dealer begins a final round of wagering.

Finally, we come to the Showdown. Players left in the game now need to show the poker hands they’ve formed by combining the five community cards with their own hole cards. The player who reveals the best hand overall, takes home the pot.