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Find the best Texas Holdem sites online. Poker Junkie and its visitors rank Texas Hold’em sites for game selection, traffic, easy-to-beat opponents and promotions. Texas Hold'em in 60 Seconds. Hold'em poker online is a community game where each player is dealt two cards face down (hole cards) and five 'community' cards are dealt in between betting rounds on the table. Play online poker games at Full Tilt. The real beautiful game. It’s even more beautiful when you play it with Full Tilt. Sit down in the presence of the greats, like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.Play at lightning speed with Zoom, the fastest poker game in the world, or mix it up with one of our many other poker variants.Whatever way you like to play, be like thousands of other poker.
January 17, 2020
TexasHoldemOnline.org is a resource for people who want to play 'Texas Holdem Online' for real money, but don't know exactly which cardrooms they should choose. This site provides up-to-date reviews on online Texas Holdem websites with information on their software, bonus structures, games, and gaming communities. TexasHoldemOnline seeks to be more than a rubber-stamp for clients, providing useful insight for real players instead of a stream of sales jargon disguised as site reviews. Let's start the lessons in Texas Holdem with a short discussion of the history of poker, especially the game variation which has come to rule the sport.
Our editorial team lists and reviews some of the best texas holdem poker sites. To know more about the top poker sites online, see the table below. We've mentioned the benefits of playing at every poker room in this table as well as the sign up bonus offered. To start playing at any room, simply use the Play Now links.
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The History of Poker
Poker's origin is disputed. R.F. Foster, a writer of the 1930s, convinced a couple of generations of poker players that the game was derived from the Persian game As Nas. David Parlett challenged that assumption in the 1990s, claiming the game originated from a French game called poque. Even later poker historians have suggested neither of these claims is correct, but the game may have developed from multiple card games in the Mississippi River area in the late-18th century. From here, poker spread throughout the country throughout the country in the 19th century, mainly aboard riverboats navigating the Mississippi River. The first definite reference to the game was in 1837, when an English actor wrote about a game of poker using 20 cards that took place in the city of New Orleans.
Texas Hold'em originated in the town of Robstown, Texas, at least if you believe the Texas Legislator (which bans poker, but passes laws recognizing such things). The game is thought to have been created in the early 20th century. By the 1950s and 1960s, Texas road players like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, and Crandall Addington had become familiar with the game. When they took their fortunes to Las Vegas in 1967, Texas Hold'em went with them. Crandall Addington has noted that the game was known to those players only as holdem at the time. The addition of the 'Texas' moniker was added by Vegas players who associated the game with Texas gambling professionals. Because Texas Holdem requires 4 bets instead of the 2 bets in draw poker, professional poker players tended to prefer the game, believing it to be more of a thinking man's game (or a game professionals could dominate).
The World Series of Poker
The first World Series of Poker took place in the Horseshoe Casino in 1970. Benny Binion collected the seven best U.S. players at the time and had them play poker a set amount of time. The winner (Johnny Moss) was determined by a secret ballot among the contestants and he won a silver cup for his troubles. The first WSOP included games of Texas Holdem, seven-card stud, five-card stud, razz, and deuce to seven low-ball draw. It was in the 1971 WSOP that the final event involved on Texas Hold'em, a decision probably influenced by the fact many of the key figures of the time (Benny Binion, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim) were from Texas, where the game originated. From 1971 forward, Texas Hold'em continued to gain in popularity over traditional games of stud and draw poker.
Over the years, the event has had many memorable and historic moments. Doyle Brunson was the first to win back-to-back titles in 1976 and 1977. Stu Ungar repeated this feat by winning the event in 1980 and 1981, also becoming the youngest ever winner of the main event (a record since broken by Phil Hellmuth). Ungar went on to win the event a third time in 1997, just months before he died from an overdose. Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss remain the only players to win the event three times, though Moss won his first bracelet through a player vote.
Jack Straus won in 1982 after believing he was out of the tournament altogether, after discovering he still had on $500. This gave rise to the poker phrase 'chip and a chair'. Johnny Chan won the 1987 and 1988 events and came one place short of winning an unprecedented threepeat in 1989, when he lost to Phil Hellmuth Jr. heads-up. Phil Hellmuth was only 24 years old at the time.
Doyle Brunson's Super/System
Doyle Brunson wrote or compiled the most influential book in the history of poker with his Super/System, which was published in 1979. Mike Caro, Chip Reece, David Sklansky, Joey Hawthorne, and Bobby Baldwin also wrote or co-wrote sections of Supersystem, but Brunson wrote the bulk of the material. In fact, Brunson (who wrote the Texas Holdem chapter) claims he gave away so many secrets that he had to change how he played the game. Though many fine poker books have been published since, Super/System was the first book on Texas Holdem that gave average players real insight into how the professionals played the game. These lessons would take another generation for the poker public to learn, but it would help lead to a wider popularization of poker gambling and Texas Holdem in the early 21st century.
2003 World Series of Poker - Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker is a pivotal figure in the history of Texas Holdem, as well as televised poker. Moneymaker was the first player to win the WSOP Main Event who won his way into the tournament through online poker satellite tournaments. Starting with a $40 entry tournament on PokerStars, Chris Moneymaker was enough of an everyman to strike a chord with tv viewers. His victory started the 'Poker Boom' and made online Texas Holdem the hottest game on the Internet.
2004 WSOP Main Event - Greg Raymer
The win by Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer may not have been the turning point Moneymaker's win was, but Raymer's victory confirmed the previous win wasn't a fluke. Greg Raymer was another player sent to the tournament by PokerStars, so his win confirmed poker had entered the era of the common man or online poker novice. The 1st prize of the WSOP Main Event had doubled in a years time, while the event included more than three times the number of contestants than the previous year.
Largest Prize Pool in Poker History - 2006 WSOP Main Event
The largest prize pool in the history of organized poker tournaments was the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event. Jamie Gold was the WSOP winner that year, taking home the 1st prize of $12 million. The total prize pool was $82,512,162.
It might strike those new to poker why the 2006 prize total hasn't been eclipsed in the 6 years since. That's because the first poker boom ended with passage of the 2006 UIGEA law by the U.S. Congress. This law curtailed online poker real money games in the United States and dampened interest (by 21st century standards) in the World Series of Poker. I should mention that the top 8 prize pools of all time have been the 2004 to 2011 WSOP Main Events, so the World Series of Poker still rules the sport.
The November Nine - 2008 WSOP Main Event
In 2008, the World Series of Poker Main Event went to the 'November Nine' format. As the WSOP got larger, players would meet in Las Vegas for a month of poker events, usually in the late spring or early summer. With the increasing popularity of poker, the organizers decided to capitalize on public interest to hype professional poker's biggest event for several months. When the final table of nine players were determined as in the traditional tournament, play would be suspended and resume in November that same year. In the November Nine, chip stacks remain the same as they were when play was suspended.
Pius Heinz - Current WSOP Champion
Pius Heinz is the reigning champion of the World Series of Poker, after winning the 2011 event. The 2011 WSOP Main Event included over 6,800 entrants and $64,531,000 in prize money.
Online Texas Holdem
With the mainstream use of the Internet by the world public, it was only a matter of time before online games had a major presence worldwide. By the mid-1990s, people were beginning to develop software that would allow people to gamble online. Bodog was launched in 1994 by Calvin Ayre, though 1997 seems to be the year when many of the gaming software companies you hear about today began to come online. In these early years of the Internet, Texas Holdem online was one of several poker variations which had popularity. Those who played poker in Las Vegas and Atlantic City were certainly familiar with the game, while those who watched televised poker on ESPN (when Gabe Kaplan hosted WSOP broadcasts) knew about the popularity of the game with real poker players.
When Chris Moneymaker had his historic victory in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, viewers at home saw this and began to see poker as a game where an average person could compete with the professionals on a more even footing. You might not be able to match Michael Jordan or his successors basket-for-basket, but you could shut that mouthy Phil Hellmuth up. Or better yet, a person could become the next poker badboy at the nearest casino or in an online card room, where anonymity meant you could really cut loose. Online Texas Holdem sites like Party Poker, Pokerstars, and Absolute Poker gave people the chance to win huge jackpots in weekly online events. This gave online poker some of the allure of playing the state lotteries, except a person had the personal satisfaction of winning through cleverness and good tactics (with a fair amount of luck mixed in).
World Poker Tour - TV Poker at Its Best
The popularity of Texas Hold'em online was fueled by more than ESPN, though. 2003 was the year that the World Poker Tour was first broadcast on the Travel Channel. This let a poker lover tune and follow their favorite players as they toured around the globe, competing for big stakes. The European Poker Tour served the same role for European poker players, where the laws favor continued high interest in playing online Texas Holdem for real money. Some poker writers will tell you that the World Poker Tour and its copiers had as much to do with the Poker Boom as Chris Moneymaker. There's probably some truth to that statement, but seeing a regular guy win the biggest is what inspired millions of card novices worldwide to play real money online Texas Holdem.
About TexasHoldemOnline.org
TexasHoldemOnline is resource for discussing where to play online Texas Holdem for real money. Not every poker player enjoys the same type of card game, even if you narrow the topic down to real money Texas Holdem. This site will discuss where to find the best ring games for cash, sit-n-go events, and poker tournaments.
This website provides information for everyone type of gambler, from novice players who've mainly watched poker on tv and who prefer the lowest blinds to the high dollar cash game specialists. The Internet provides a wider selection of game than even the largest gaming meccas in the world, so a site like this needs to be comprehensive.
We are going to make sure the Texas Holdem info is clearly marked for beginning, intermediate, and expert poker players. Like a good crew of referees, these noted poker experts are going to call it like they see it.
If an online Texas Hold Em website combines honest games and solid bonuses with a practical software interface, TexasHoldemOnline.org will let you know about it. If an online poker operator doesn't provide the game you need, THO.org intends to provide that information, too. Start reading to learn the latest information on the best and the worst poker rooms online.
What is Texas Hold’em?
Texas Hold’em is the single most popular poker game in the world. Although it wasn’t until the 2000s that No-Limit Texas Hold’em really took off, it’s a game that dates all the way back to the early 1900s.
Texas Hold’em differs from many of the other poker games like Seven-Card Stud and Five-Card Draw because it features community cards, which help mitigate the need to count cards.
You also draw only two cards as your starting 'hole cards,' making the game even more accessible to new poker players. Poker legend Doyle Brunson once referred to No-Limit Hold’em as the “Cadillac” of poker and it’s easy to see why.
The game is simple to learn and offers a unique combination of skill and luck, making for endlessly exciting game scenarios and lots of action.
How is Texas Hold'em Played?
Texas Hold’em is a community-card poker game that typically takes place over one table with 2-10 players. Every player is dealt two cards face down, which can then be combined with the following five cards dealt out on the board to create the best five-card poker hand.
Players do not have to have the best hand to win, however, as they can also win by bluffing their opponent out of a hand with a bet.
For one full hand of Texas Hold'em there can be up to four separate betting rounds - after the deal, after the flop (the first three cards are dealt to the board and called the 'Flop'), after the 'turn' card is dealt (fourth street) and after the 'river' card (fifth street) is dealt.
Players have the option of checking, calling, betting, raising or folding in every round, depending on the action in front of them and the order of player around the table.
Texas Hold’em is also very much a 'position-based' game, which means there is an order of play, a strategy to how you should play in each position in relation to the dealer and and two forced bets to start the action off every round.
These are called the 'small blind' and the 'big blind' (typically twice the small blind), and must be put into the pot before the hand. These positions rotate around the table, so you will need to put in one small blind and one big blind over the course of a full orbit of hands around the table.
Try our Beginner's Guide to Getting Started in Texas Hold'em to if you need some help to get going..
Why is Texas Hold’em So Popular?
Start playing online poker at the best poker sites and you’ll quickly find that 80% or more of all of the action at the tables is in No-Limit Texas Hold’em.
There are a lot of reasons why, but first among them is likely the ease of learning how to play and the massive amount of television exposure Texas Hold'em has got in the the last 6-8 years.
Texas Hold'em also works especially well online as it’s generally faster than most of the draw games and it’s easier to play with several tables open at once.
Perhaps the best element, though, is that new players are always getting into the game because it’s so simple to learn, which means competition is significantly less difficult than some of the other more specialized games.
These days Pot-Limit Omaha – the four-card version of Hold’em – is starting to gain momentum but it’s doubtful it will ever be nearly as popular as Hold’em.
What Beats What in Texas Hold'em?
See the complete hand rankings in our Poker Hand Evaluation page.
How to Make Your Texas Hold'em Hand
The rules of making your best hand in Texas Holdem are simple:
You always have to you use exactly five cards (out of seven that are dealt - two just to you and five in the middle for everyone) but you can use any combination of cards from your hand or the board cards.
If the best five-card hand (go back to the poker hand rankings if you're unsure) you can make is with all five cards on the board, that's your final hand.
You can also use just one hole card from your hand and four from the board, or two from your hand and three from the board.
Basic No-Limit Hold’em Terms
Button: Nickname for the player acting as the dealer in current hand, or the name for the physical dealer button used to denote the current dealer.
Blinds: Short for 'blind bets,' these are the forced bets made before the cards are dealt. In Hold'em, blinds take the place of the classic “ante” that’s found in Seven-Card Stud.
Burn Card: The card dealt facedown before any community card is dealt.
Check: Similar to a call, but no money is bet. If there is no bet or raise, the next player to act may check.
Fish or Donkey: A generally bad player
Fifth Street: See River.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt.
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Fourth Street: See Turn.
Pre-flop: Anything that occurs before the flop is dealt is pre-flop.
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River: The final (5th) community card dealt; also known as fifth street.
Showdown: When players reveal their hands to discover the pot's winner.
Turn: The fourth community card dealt; also known as fourth street.
5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Texas Holdem Game
Most people who play Texas Hold'em want to get better at it. Even those who play Texas Holdem online purely for recreation usually have more fun if they are winning. Becoming a Texas hold’em master will take some hard work and innate talent, but there are a few things you can do right away to start getting better:
1. Stop Playing So Many Hands
When newbie poker players start playing Texas holdem poker on the web, their most common mistake is playing too many starting hands. In other words they 'limp in' (putting in the same amount as the big blind) or they call too many bets before the flop with hands that are too weak.
This is a common symptom in live poker too, but the impatience that characterizes web visitors in general probably affects web based poker players as well. As a consequence, when you play online poker on the web, it’s even more important than usual to make a list of starting hands that you are “allowed” to play.
For example, make a copy of a simple Texas Holdem starting-hand strategy and keep it beside the computer when you play your first few hundred hands or so. As a general rule, if you start out with the best hand, you are more likely to end up with the best hand.
If you play any two cards with the hopes of flopping something good, you will often make the second-best hand at best or nothing at all. This will result in you paying off your opponents far too much. This is true in all poker variations but especially in Texas hold em games.
Even if you don't make any hands, your chips will bleed away since you will pay for a lot of missed flops and not win enough when you finally hit. At the best online Texas holdem sites there are always people waiting for fish to swim in and play any two cards. You want to be one of the sharks waiting and not the fish.
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2. Try Second Level Thinking
Don’t consider your hand in a vacuum. Sure you have a flush, but there’s a high pair on the board and one of your opponents is betting strongly. You have to consider that he may have a full house.
Alternatively, if a player raised before the flop and the flop comes with three low cards, you have to consider the possibility that he was betting high cards and missed, even if your hand is not that strong.
Many new Texas hold em players focus too much on what they have and not what they have in relation to their opponents. If you often think “I have a [insert hand] so I have to call,” and then lose, you might want to start analyzing your opponents’ possible holdings a little more.
3. Try Third Level Thinking
In online Texas Hold'em poker, once you’re thinking about what your opponent has, try thinking about what your opponent may think you have. This seems a little tricky, but just try to put yourself in your opponent’s shoes and try to imagine what you might conclude about the hand if you were in his seat.
In doing so, you will be able to make good value bets that your opponents might pay off and get rid of hands that look strong but are beat.
4. Find Your Comfort Level
To play your best Texas Holdem online, you should be playing at stakes that are not so high that you are afraid to make the moves you need to make, but not so low that you play carelessly.
If you’re not sure, err on the side of playing lower stakes. You can always move up if you’re convinced that you are not being challenged at your current level. Before you decide where to play, compare different poker site reviews to make sure that you find a poker site offering action at your preferred limit.
5. Analyze Your Play
This is easier to do in online poker with downloaded hand histories, but you can do it in live play too. Go over your hands and think about what you did right and what you did wrong, and how that affected your results.
If you pinpoint a real error, try to correct it mentally before your next session. All top texas holdem sites allow you to view all your played hands, and most of them give you statistics on your play – how often you fold, call and bet etc.
Use this information to your advantage. It can drastically improve your game, and improve your chances of building a bankroll from your first poker deposit.
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Texas Holdem is a poker success story without comparison. From being a fairly small game only played by old-school Texas gamblers, it’s now played by millions of people online and offline all around the world.
Poker Sites Texas Holdem
In our toplist to the left we rate online poker sites based on the Texas Hold’em games they offer. Poker Junkie’s editors and visitors have rated the big Texas Holdem poker sites and guide you to the best ones in this category.