Casino Hold‘Em is a casino game based on the immensely popular Texas Hold‘Em poker game and it is different from it in that it is played against the house and not by competing with the other players in a direct battle against them, which gives the player bigger chances of winning. The game was created in the year 2000, and now appears across many land-based and online casinos.
The game first appeared in Great Britain in 2002 at the International Casino Exhibition and five years later it got licensed across the entire country. The game quickly gained popularity and today it is played in casinos on all continents. This text will inform you about the rules of Casino Hold‘Em, what are the basics of the game, and at the end we will give you a basic strategy that you can use if you are a beginner in this game.
Casino Holdem Poker Rules Casino Holdem Description and Objective Casino Hold’em Poker is a variation of the popular Texas Holdem poker game. Casino Hold’em Poker differs from Texas Hold’em in that it is played against the house rather than against other players. Poker Whether you're interested in playing a regular cash game, entering a weekly tournament or seeking the challenges of a high-stakes Poker championship, then look no further than the Crown Casino Poker Room. Find out more about upcoming poker tournaments here: Crown Poker. As you can see, Casino hold‘em is the perfect casino table game for poker fans! While it retains the majority of the rules and strategies of Texas hold‘em, it also allows the player to compete against the house in the form of a dealer rather than other players.
Casino Hold’Em Rules
Casino Hold‘Em follows the rules of poker and Texas Hold‘Em poker in general, with some minor differences. These are the rules of the game:
- Each player needs to make an Ante bet before the cards are dealt.
- The dealer places three community cards on the Casino Hold‘Em table that are faced up, and can be used by all the players to form their hands. The players and the dealer on the other hand, receive two hole cards that can be combined with the community cards in order to form a playing hand.
- When the round has started, the players can fold or call, just like in standard poker games, a decision that they make based on their hand. If the player believes he has a strong playing hand, he ‘calls’ the bet and wagers the same amount but no more than two times the Ante bet, but if he is hesitant he can ‘fold’ and cease risking additional money.
- After that, the dealer will place additional community cards, two in total, and will display his cards.
- The hands will be valued according to the Casino Hold‘Em ranks, and are measured according to the two cards in each player’s hand and the community cards.
- A significant detail in Casino Hold‘Em is that the dealer has to qualify in order to proceed. He needs at least a pair of 4s or higher. When the dealer hasn’t succeeded in qualifying, the call bet is pushed and the Ante is paid out according to the paytable.
- When the dealer has qualified, while the player has lost, the player loses both bets, the call bet and the Ante bet.
- If the player manages to beat the dealer, but the dealer has qualified anyway, the Ante is paid according to the paytable.
- If it’s a tie, both bets are pushed.
- Casino Hold‘Em is played with a standard deck of cards consisted of 52 cards.
The Basics of Casino Hold‘Em
Objective of the Game
The objective is simple enough, all the players have to beat the dealer’s hand. This is achieved by collecting the best five cards that can be used to form the highest ranking hand possible. Although the game is played with only one deck of cards, 52 cards in total, the deck is shuffled and replaced with another after every round.
Casino Hold‘Em Hand Rankings
This game follows the same hand rankings as in standard poker. The strongest hand is the Royal Flush, followed by Straight Flush and so on all the way to the lowest hand which is a Pair. In general, the house edge in Casino Hold‘Em is something little over 2%. The highest card is as always the Ace followed by the King and the other face cards, all the way down to the lowest, which is 2.
Payouts
The lowest payout you can get is 1 to 1, also called even money or the same amount that you have wagered. The highest payout is 100 to 1 given for a Royal Flush hand. Straight Flush is the second best hand and pays much less, only 20 to 1. However, that is why the AA side bet is here. If you have made a successful AA side bet, the payout for Straight Flush increases to 50 to 1. Four of a Kind is paid 10 to 1, or 40 to 1 with an AA side bet. Full House pays 3 to 1, and ten times more with the side bet, totaling to 30 to 1. If you have a Flush, you will get 2 to 1, or 7 to 1 with the side bet.
Bet Limits
If you want to play Casino Hold‘Em we would advise you to do it online because of the more favorable betting limits. For example, at Playtech casinos you can make Casino Hold‘Em wagers as low as $1 and in chip denominations all the way down to $0.01. In general, you can use chips of $0.05, $1, $5, $10, $25 and $100. At most cases, the maximum bet in Casino Hold‘Em at online casinos will be $100. If you have decided to play online Casino Hold‘Em, look for casinos that have live dealer Casino Hold‘Em games too in order to complete the true gambling feel.
AA Side Bet
Casino Hold‘Em allows an additional AA side bet, which can bring you bonus given as extra profit on your Ante if the three community cards that you will combine with your two cards contain two Aces. This side bet is placed at the same time with the Ante bet and if your hand is successful, all the payouts increase, hence bonus money. The AA bet pays out if the first 5 cards are dealt along with two Aces.
A Simple Strategy to Use
Once you begin playing the game and get enough familiar with it, you will probably devise your own playing style or strategy. However, there is no hundred percent successful strategy for playing poker, because the outcome always will depend on the cards dealt, so the best is to use optimal situational strategies that are based on your hand at the moment. We can give you some simple tips of when to call, or when to fold, and these tips are generally supplied by Casino Hold‘Em players based on their experience from playing the game. So, you shouldn’t fold if you have a Straight Flush or any flush that is open-ended or gut-shot. (A little clarification: open-ended hand is when you have 4 cards in a row you need a high or low card to make a straight, while a gut-shot hand is when you already have four cards for a Straight and you need the middle card). Also, you should never fold if you have a pair of high Ace or high King.
You can consider folding, but it is recommended not to fold if you have a high Queen or a gut-shot Straight draw. However, gut-shot Straight Draws are less likely to succeed compared to open-ended. If you have a high Jack or better and if there is a pair on the table you should fold very rarely, but you should always fold in the same situation if you have high Ten or lower, unless you are in a gut-shot situation. The situations in which you should always fold and thus avoid losing, are cases in which you have very low cards and cannot match them with the community cards.
You should always raise if your two cards dealt by the dealer are higher in value compared to the 3 community cards on the table.
Summary
Casino Hold‘Em is probably the most popular variation of Texas Hold‘Em. Both games can be learned easily and can be fun, just pick if you want to play against other players or just against the dealer. Casino Hold‘Em is probably best for more inexperienced players that don’t have the skill or the guts to go head to head against other poker players, because here the only opponent you have is the house. That fact alone makes a Casino Hold‘Em a game in which you are more likely to win.
Useful Casino Hold‘Em Glossary
– All-In: this is a very common poker term used in every poker variation. This is when a player puts all chips into play.
– Ante: in poker there is a pot, which is formed with opening bets and the player that wins in the end takes all the money from the pot. Ante bets are placed before the dealing of the cards, and are made separately from your playing bet that you make when you have your hand in front of you.
– Board: this term is used in Hold‘Em poker games to refer to the community cards on the table.
– Rake: poker rooms usually impose Rakes, which are specified amounts that you need to give in return for something. The rake is usually a percentage of each pot or a specific amount and is considered as a commission charged by the poker room.
– Dead Money: when a player has folded but has already placed a bet, and that bet is considered as dead money.
Visit our Casino Hold’em Glossary section for more terms and phrases.
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The PDF rules of poker are provided below for Texas Hold'em, the most popular poker variant.
To get the PDF printable version of this post click on of the unlock buttons below:
Other popular game variants include Pot Limit Omaha and 5card draw.
Table Of Contents
- Texas Hold'em Rules
- Poker hand Ranking System
Texas Hold'em Rules
In Texas hold’em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole’ cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.
There are a total of four betting rounds: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river. The betting rounds will be detailed further on.
If you have a dedicated dealer (such as at a casino), the button will still move around the table so everybody will eventually have to pay the blinds. The button doesn't show who is dealing in a casino; the button shows who is seated the best position at the table and where the blinds are located.
If you just sat down (out of turn) you will have to pay the blinds in order get dealt a hand; otherwise, you can wait until the blinds come around to your seat. You should wait for the blinds as paying twice is unprofitable.
The size of the blinds depends on the limit; for example, a 1/2 No Limit Hold'em game would have a big blind of $2 and a small blind of 1$. The small blind and big blind are located to the left of the button.
This is shown in the case of a 6 handed game below:
The blinds are an important part of the rules of poker. These forced bets which give players an incentive to play; in other words ‘spice up' the game. Without the blinds, there would be no penalty for waiting and only playing strong hands. The only hand worth playing would be two aces!
Antes are another form of forced bets which are often used the increase the action in some game types such as tournaments and deep stacked cash games.
Pre-flop – The First Betting Round of Hold'em
The first round of betting takes places starting at the position to the left of the big blind (early position or EP). Each player has the following options:
Raise: you can raise the current bet to increase the stakes of the game. If someone has raised before you, you can still raise again – this is call a reraise. The minimum size you can raise is typically chosen to be twice that of the last bet or raise.
Call: When you do not want to raise the stakes but want to continue with your hand you can match the current bet.
Fold: If you feel your hand is not worth playing any further you can fold your hand and not commit any more bets.
Check: If there is no bet placed you can check in order to see the next card. This isn't applicable to preflop. The blinds are the first bet preflop which must be matched with a call or raised, if a player wishes to continue.
Players must act in sequence until all bets are settled. The button must always act last in the first sequence. This first round of betting called ‘pre-flop’ occurs before the flop is dealt.
The Flop – The Second Betting Round
The second round of betting takes places after the three community (shared) cards called the flop are dealt. The action will be to the first player to the left of the dealer. This is opposed to the action starting to the left of the big blind during the preflop betting round.
The first player to act has the option to check bet or fold; although you should not fold when you can check for free. The betting rounds after the flop is dealt is collectively known as ‘post-flop’.
The Turn – The Third Betting Round
The third round of betting occurs after the second community card has been dealt. This card is called the turn. Again, the action starts with the active player to the left of the dealer.
The River and Showdown – The Fourth Betting Round
The fourth and final round of betting occurs when the dealer turns over the river card. The hand ends with the showdown of hands or if there is only one live hand remaining (the other player(s) have folded).
At showdown, the player with the best five card combination from their hole cards and the community cards wins the final pot. Split pots occur when both players have the same best five cards.
After each hand, the button moves to the left of the dealer. This means everyone will have to play the blinds at some point.
Rules For Texas Hold Poker
Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving.
The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our home page if you want to improve your poker game!
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Other notes:home page if you want to improve your poker game!
home page if you want to improve your poker game!
Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!
The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!
- Royal Flush (649,739:1)
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.
- Straight flush (72,192:1)
Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.
- Four of a kind (4,164:1)
Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads’.
Hold Em Poker Game
- Full House (693:1)
Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!
- Flush (508:1)
Five cards all of the same suit.
- Straight (254:1)
Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.
- Three of a kind (46:1)
Three cards of the same value.
- Two pair (20 : 1)
Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!
- One pair (1.37:1)
Two cards of the same value.
- High card
The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.
Kickers
A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is A♥K♦5♠ 7♠ 2♦ both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q♣ is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.
Split pots
Split pots occur when both players get to showdown and have the same hand rank. The pot is divided up equally between each of the players.
To take an example, if player A has K♠J♥ and player B has K♣Q♠ on a A♥K♦5♠5♣2♠ board both players will have two pair and ace kicker as their best hand (A, K, K, 5, 5). Therefore the pot will be split between the two players.
Alternatively, if the neither player can improve the hand on the board it will also be a split pot. If the board is A♥K♦5♠5♣K♠ and player A has Q♠J♣ and player B has 4♣4♠ then both players will be playing the board and thus it will be a split pot. Hence, you cannot have three pair in poker and the best two pair will play.
Beyond hand rankings
The rules of poker and poker hand rankings are just the beginning for you on your poker journey. One of the core skills in poker is being able to determine whether your hand is strong or weak on a relative scale as opposed to an absolute scale. For example, three of a kind is extremely strong on a board with no flush or straight possibilities but very weak on a board with 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight (e.g. T♥9♥8♥7♥ – any heart or J or 6 beats three of a kind).
One key point to note is that in poker all suits are of the same value. An Ace high flush of hearts is the same value as an Ace high flush of spades.
The first step to this is remembering if a flush beats a straight, or whether a straight flush beats quads; the next stage is figuring out your hand's relative strength based on how your opponent is playing, his tendencies and most importantly the board texture as noted.
Additionally, we should take into account the following factors:
- How many players are in the pot
- The amount of chips in the pot
- The size of the bets made
If you can understand the poker hand rankings and relative hand strength you will be ahead of the game; get ready to beat all your friends and opponents at your home games and casinos! Want to accelerate your poker learning? Check out or poker training sites post for the quickest ways to improve your poker game.
If you are new to poker and are unsure of what hands you need to play, check out our starting hand charts over at the poker cheat sheet webpage.
Check out this poker hand ranking video for a more visual format of everything we said:
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Poker cheat sheet for beginners & Best Poker Books