Limit Texas Holdem Rules

Texas Hold 'Em: With Limits

Due to the fact that it is relatively easy to learn and to play and because televised tournaments have been widely publicized, Texas Hold 'Em is perhaps the most popular variety of poker being played right now.

Throughout the course of this article, you will learn all you ever needed to know about its rules, its set up, along with some helpful tricks and techniques. By the time you get done, you may not be a master – that takes lots and lots of real time, game playing practice – but you will certainly be ready to play.

There are three different categories of Texas Hold 'Em. They are Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit. For the purposes of this article, we will be discussing the former variation.

The full, correct name of the game is: Texas Hold 'Em Fixed Limit. As the name suggests, the betting limits in this particular game are fixed. That means that you are only able to bet an amount which falls within the governed limit set in place for that particular street.

The best way to understand how this game is played is to go through a sample hand. That is what we are going to do throughout the course of this article – run through each step of a poker hand. We will also define many of the most common rules and situations that most players encounter while they are playing.

The Basics: Before You Get Your Hand

First of all, you have to make a choice concerning what kind of stakes you are going to play. In tournaments, for example, the stakes begin at very small amounts. Over the course of the game, they get larger. However, in a cash game – usually reserved to a single table – then the stakes remain at a fixed amount.

So, just as a for instance, pretend that you are playing a $4.00/$6.00 cash game. What this basically means is that $4.00 is the fixed amount for the lower limit, while $6.00 is the fixed amount for the higher limit.

The dealer rotates in this game, many that there will be a different dealer with every new round. The dealer is typically denoted by a plastic dealer disk that moves from player to player in a clockwise motion.

Prior to the first hand, you can pick anyone to be the dealer. Usually every player is dealt a card, which is placed face up. Whomever has the highest card gets to be the dealer for that hand.

After the dealer has been chosen, the player who is located immediately to the left begins with the small blind, which is a forced bet that amounts to one half of the small limit. In this case, it would be $2.00. If you are playing in a game where half the small limit would turn out to be, say, $2.50, then just round down to $2.00.

The player who is located on the left of the small blind has to bet the big blind. Conversely, this is worth the total amount of the small limit. For this game, it would be the whole $4.00

Receiving Your Cards

Much of this game is clockwise. Similarly, when the cards are dealt, they are done so in a clockwise motion, beginning with the player located just to the left of the dealer. This is also the player who bet the small blind. The dealer receives his or her cards last. For Texas Hold 'Em, each player gets two hole cards. They stay face down.

Betting During the First Round

Once the final card is dealt, the betting is ready to begin. It starts with the player located on the left side of the player who laid down the bigger blind. That player can choose between calling, which means matching the amount of either the big blind or the small limit; folding, or throwing in their cards; or raising. When you raise during a game of limit poker, it has to be equal to the prior bet and the current limit.

If the player in this game decides to raise, he or she has to bet $6.00 -- $4.00 for the big blind plus $2.00 to increase the total of the small limit.

The betting continues in a clockwise pattern. Each player has the option of calling, folding, or raising. Whenever the player's choice totals the small blind, then all of the money he or she has thus far put in the pot counts toward the total amount of the raise or call. If the player folds, he or she loses the money to the pot.

In this game, the big and small blinds have the same options, as long as no one has raised. If no one raises, the bet stays at $4.00, set by the big blind before the cards were dealt. At that point the big blind then has a choice between checking – which means they can continue onto the following street without having to play any more chips – and raising.

The round of betting is finished once each player has been able to play; and once each player has either bet the same number of chips or folded.

Limit Hold 'Em has another raising rule as well. This game has a “cap,” which means that only a single bet and three raises are allowed in a single round. The only exception exists when there are no more than two players still in the hand. After this point, players are limited to either calling or folding.

Fundamentals of the Flop

Now we go back to the dealer. After the first round of bets finishes, it is time to lay down the flop. The dealer lays one card on the table, face down. This is the burn card. Following the burn card, the dealer lays down three cards, all facing upwards. The players study these cards and compare them to their own hands. They can evaluate what kind of hand they can make between the two.

From this point until the completion of the hand, each round of betting begins with the player nearest to the dealer. The small blind begins the action and the action follows clockwise. If the small blind is not a live player, the big blind starts, and so on.

During the second round, the betting is the same as the first round. There is, however, a little exception. The player who goes first can choose between checking – this requires no bet – or betting, which can total the smaller limit. If the player checks, then the person up next gets the same choices.

Once a player bets, the other players get to choose between calling, raising, or folding. Once each player has acted and once each player has an equal amount of money to wager, then the round of betting is finished.

The Turn and the River: The Basics

In this game, the turn is quite like the flop, in that the dealer lays down a card that faces downward, then lays down another card that faces upward. The third round of betting follows this act. The turn and the river are played exactly like the flop, except that the betting limit during the last two rounds of betting has to use the high limit.

After the third round of betting is finished, the dealer deals the river exactly like the turn was laid down. The fourth and last round of betting follows this. After this round is finished, all of the players still in the game begin the showdown.

The showdown is just that – all the players show their hands. The best hand is the winner.

It is as simple as that. Once you have read this far, you know all you have to know in order to play a great game of Texas Hold 'Em Fixed Limit.