Texas Hold'em 101

We hope you're excited for the second annual “Taking It Off for Charity” Poker Tournament on Friday!  To give you the best chance of staying [at least] partially-clothed, read the rules of Texas Hold'em below!

• First of all, you need at least two players, a 52-card deck and poker chips or cash if you’re gambling.
• You start by designating a dealer who will shuffle the cards and deal two cards (clockwise) to each player.
• The person to the left of the dealer goes first.  Once each person has their cards they can either bet or fold. (Once a player folds they are done with the game.)
• The dealer then places one card face side down and three cards face side up in the center of the table; this is called the flop.  After this is done, the remaining players can decide to bet or fold.
• The dealer continues by placing another card face side down and another face side up; this is called the turn.  Another round of betting or folding.
• The dealer places another card face side down and another face side up; this is called the river.  This is the last round of betting or folding. The person who calls the last bet (the highest amount) shows their hand first, and then the remaining players show their hands (still continuing clockwise).
• The winning hand is the highest five cards, using at least one from your own hand and the rest from the community cards (also called the pot).

Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing!  Now, if you don’t know much about playing poker, then you may not know the different five-card poker hands.

Ranked from best to worst:

• Royal Straight Flush: 10, J, Q, K, A (all of the same suit)
• Straight Flush: five cards of the same suit, in order (example: 9, 10, J, Q, K of hearts)
• Four of a Kind: four of the same card (example: 3, 3, 3, 3)
• Full House: three of a kind and a pair (example: Q, Q, Q, 9, 9)
• Flush: five cards of the same suit, but not necessarily in order (example: all hearts)
• Straight: a sequence of five cards, but not all the same suit (example: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
• Three of a Kind: three cards of the same number or rank (example: 5, 5, 5 or A, A, A)
• Two Pair: two pairs of cards of the same number or rank (example: 7, 7, 2, 2)

It may sound a bit confusing, but once you get started, you’ll get the hang of the game in no time!

Here are a couple of photos from last year's "Taking It Off For Charity" Poker Tournament (and yes, the Hooters girls will be playing this year as well!):

Some of our old interns at last year's Poker Tournament

The lovely Hooters girls at "Taking It Off for Charity" Poker Tournament 2010

Paul & Breanne practicing their poker faces in the Pledge 5 office

Other than that, we’d like to remind you that we’ll have more contests between now and this Friday for chances to win free VIP tickets to the tournament so keep checking our Facebook profile and Twitter!