Poker

Texas hold ‘em (also hold’em, holdem) is the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States. Hold ‘em is a community card poker game; meaning that some of cards are available to be used by all players (in contrast to games like stud or draw). Texas hold ‘em is generally played with 2 to 10 players. It is the subject of a wide variety of strategy books, which provide recommendations for proper play. Because each player only starts with two cards, and the remaining cards are shared, it presents an opportune game for strategic analysis (including mathematical analysis). Hold ‘em is regarded as a highly positional game, since the order of betting is fixed throughout all betting rounds. Because of the shared community cards, kickers are often used to determine the winner, more so than in other poker variants.

After slow but steady gains in popularity throughout the 20th century, hold ‘em’s popularity surged in the 2000s due to exposure on television, on the Internet, and in popular literature. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour.

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