This weekend I headed up to Lake Tahoe for some Texas Hold’em Poker play at Harveys. This was a short weekend and I would only have Saturday night to put some time in. So around 10pm I started. With $100 in chips, I was seated at a 3-6 Texas Hold’em Limit table.

Limit Texas Hold’em is different from no limit because you need more skill to really win. With this game of Limit Texas Hold’em the blinds were $3 and $1. There are two rounds of $3 betting and raising. First round is after the deal and all players have there two hole cards. Then there is a round a betting after the flop. In these two rounds a player can only bet or raise by $3. The next two rounds of betting players bet or raise by $6.

The evening was going ok. The thing you will notice with a table playing with small amounts of money like $3 and $6 bets is that a lot of people will play all the way to the river. A lot of players will also play marginal hands and sometimes make a win only with the river. This night there was a lot of straight and flush action. I clean up a round with a nice straight having 10d and Qd as my hole cards.

As the hours passed I watched the players. On the other side of the table there were some pretty good sharks. I mostly stayed out of there reach having read there personalities. When the tables numbers came down from ten to seven players there were a few open seats. Open for only a few moments the seats were filled with fresh blood.

Three friends twenty somethings were talking and laughing as the started play. The guy next to me was playing dumb or maybe a little smashed. The other two guys decided to play wearing gold trim “bling bling” glasses. I thought they looked like chumps and thought maybe they are good or just playing like there are good. Turns out they were chumps.

In the next hour I watched as the sharks slowly milked them dry. The dumb guy next to me couldn’t drop his pocket aces and it was clear the shark across was holding an ace high for the flush. After the turn the dumb guy even said there was a flush out there and I put him on having the small end of the flush. One of his ‘bling bling’ glass buddies even play stupid and folded showing his cards early after the turn. When the dumb guy saw that he had lost he said f***! The dealer warned him about his language. He knew the shark had the flush but couldn’t put down his pocket pair of aces and showed me the aces. I replied with something like, yeah it’s hard to fold those. Even though folding after the turn and even after the river could have saved him $40 to $60 in raises and re-raises.

The next hand the dumb guy lost to a straight from a different shark and he said F*** again. This was his second warning by the dealer and notified a boss of the action. The dumb then joked for a round or two and thanked the dealer for changing his ways. Soon we changed dealers. The chumps were losing there money a little at a time here and there hand after hand. Then on a big hand the dumb guy said the word again and the dealer had to kick them off the table. I could see in the eyes if the sharks across the table from me that they wanted these chumps to stay and finish draining their money. They saved some of there money having been kicked off the table.

Later that night when I was heading to my room I saw the guys playing Black Jack.

Texas Hold'em Game Mechanics

Texas Hold’em is played on a table. Usually a poker table but you can play almost anywhere and bet with anything.

You need a deck of normal poker cards, 2 through ace with four suits.



You need from 2 to 10 players for a table.

Each player sits in a position. Play moves clockwise from small blind, big blind, first position (early first to act), second position (early), third position (early middle), fourth position (middle), fifth position (middle), sixth position (middle late), seventh position (late), and eight position and the dealer (late and last to act).

There are two forced bets called the blinds. One big blind and a small blind usually half the big blind.

Each player is deal two cards face down. These are the hole cards.

There is a round of betting with the first position after the Big Blinds to act first and Big Blinds last.

You have several options for betting.

You can call, which is matching the bet before you.

You can raise, which is a bet over the called bet.

You can re-raise, which is betting more than the previous raised bet before you.

You can fold you cards.

When betting is finished the dealer deals three cards face up. This called the flop.

Then there is another round of betting starting with the seat left of the dealer button.

Next the dealer deals another face up card called the Turn.

There is another round of betting.

The last face up card dealt is the River.

Then there is a last round of betting with players showing their hands to see who has the best hand.

Texas Hold'em Terminology Daily Basics – A Pair

There are three ways to have a pair and each type of pair has advantages and disadvantages.

First there is the pocket pair. This is a pair (two of a kind like 7d, 7h) in the players down cards, the hole cards.

Pocket Aces are the highest pair and the best hand to start with. These pocket pairs are hidden from other palyers and can be played with some stealth.

The second pair is when the player has one card in there down cards and the other card is in the community cards. In this case the player shares the one card with other players. When you have a shared pair card you need to notice if it is a pair or the highest pair. With this information and the information gathered from watching the other players you can proceed or fold.

Lastly there could be a pair on the board. If this is your pair then another could and most likely have another card to match making trips. Sometimes though, an ace high will win with other players holding poor hands. You need to read the players well in order to may the correct call.

Texas Hold'em Terminology Daily Basics – A Rainbow

When you look at the community cards and all suits are showing (Hearts, Spades, Diamonds and Clubs) this is a Rainbow. When you see a rainbow no player has a flush.

Texas Hold'em Terminology Daily Basics – The Cards

Some believe the deck of cards was invented to teach how the year works.

First there are four suits to the cards, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds and Clubs like there are four seasons in the years Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Then there are 12 face cards 4 Jacks, 4 Queens and 4 Kings. These are the months of the year.

Next the deck has 52 cards just like the 52 weeks in the year.

Lastly, if you add up all the cards Ace being 1, the numbered cards are themselves, Jacks are 11, Queens are 12 and Kings are 13 they all add up to 364 just like the days in the year.