Three words that are guaranteed to light up the eyes and quicken the pulse of any poker player. Texas Hold'em has been growing in popularity since the 70's and has now officially taken over the world. And luckily it is easy to learn.

Pre-FLop

Before any cards are dealt the two players to the left of the dealer place forced bets known as the the small and big blinds. These bets force the action, otherwise there would be nothing stopping players from waiting until they are dealt a premium starting hand before making a bet. The big blind represents the amount of the first bet that must be matched, or raised, by players wanting to stay in the hand.

Once the blinds have been posted each player is dealt two cards face down and the first round of betting commences. The betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind, who has the option to call the big blind, raise or fold their hand. This continues around the table until all players have either matched the largest bet, or folded.

The Flop

Next comes the most critical phase in any hand of Texas Hold'em, the flop. After 'burning' a single card face down, the dealer deals three cards face up in the middle of the table. Collectively they are known as the flop, and they can be used by all the players at the table to help make their five card poker hand.

After the flop comes another round of betting, this time starting with the person sitting directly to the left of the dealer who can check, bet or fold.

The Turn

The dealer burns another card face down and then deals the fourth shared card, known as the turn. Another round of betting takes place, again starting with the player left of the dealer.

The River

After burning one more card face down from the deck, a 5th and final shared card, known as the river, is dealt in to the middle of the table.

At this point, everyone left in the game has got two of their own cards plus five community cards to make up their best five card hand. You can use any of these seven cards to make up your final hand. Now that all the cards are in play, the final round of betting takes place. If more than one player is left following the betting, the cards are revealed and the player with the highest ranking hand takes the pot. Then the dealer button is moved to the next player and everything starts again.