Texas hold 'em

Texas hold 'em—often shortened to just "hold 'em"—is a well-known version of poker. Each player gets two private cards, called hole cards, dealt face down. Then, five community cards are placed face up in three rounds: first three cards (the flop), then one more (the turn), and finally a single card (the river). Players aim to make the best possible five-card poker hand using any mix of their two hole cards and the five community cards.

During the game, players can check, call, raise, or fold. Betting happens before the flop and after each new community card is dealt. The player with the strongest hand who hasn't folded by the end of all betting takes the pot—the total money wagered.

Objective

If two players have hands of equal value, the pot is split, a situation called "chopping the pot." Texas hold 'em is also the "H" game in the mixed-game formats HORSE and HOSE. The goal in Texas hold 'em, like all poker variants, is to compete for chips or money that players themselves contribute to the pot. Since cards are dealt randomly, each player tries to control the pot size based on their own hand and their guesses about opponents' hands and behavior. The game is made up of a series of hands; at the end of each hand, the pot usually goes to one player, though ties can split it.

A hand can end at a showdown, where remaining players compare hands and the highest wins, or when all but one player folds, giving that player the pot. Winning players don't aim to win every hand but instead focus on making better mathematical and psychological decisions about when to bet, raise, call, or fold, maximizing their expected gain over the long term. The exact origins of Texas hold 'em are unclear, but the Texas Legislature officially credits Robstown, Texas, as its birthplace, dating to the early 1900s. After spreading across Texas, the game reached Las Vegas in 1963 at the California Club, brought by Corky McCorquodale.

History

It quickly caught on at the Golden Nugget, Stardust, and Dunes. In 1967, a group of Texan gamblers—including Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim—were playing in Las Vegas. Around this time, the rule that aces were low was changed to ace high.

Addington recalled first seeing the game in 1959, when it was just called "hold 'em." He thought it could become the dominant game because, unlike draw poker with only two betting rounds, hold 'em allowed four betting rounds, making it more strategic. For several years, the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas was the only casino in town offering the game. Its poker room was a rough "sawdust joint" with oiled sawdust on the floors, so it attracted few wealthy clients. Professional players wanted a better location, and in 1969 they were invited to play at the entrance of the now-demolished Dunes Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

This prime spot, combined with many players' inexperience with hold 'em, made it very profitable for pros. After a failed attempt to start a "Gambling Fraternity Convention," Tom Moore added the first-ever poker tournament to the second such convention in 1969. It featured several games, including Texas hold 'em. In 1970, Benny and Jack Binion bought the rights, renamed it the World Series of Poker, and moved it to their casino, Binion's Horseshoe, in Las Vegas.

After the first year, journalist Tom Thackrey suggested making the main event no-limit Texas hold 'em. The Binions agreed, and it has remained the main event ever since. Interest grew steadily: only eight entrants in 1972, over a hundred by 1982, and more than two hundred by 1991.

During this period, B & G Publishing Co., Inc. released Doyle Brunson's groundbreaking strategy guide, Super/System. Self-published in 1978 and priced at $100, it was one of the first books on Texas hold 'em and is still considered a key text. In 1983, Al Alvarez published The Biggest Game in Town, detailing the 1981 World Series of Poker. It was the first book of its kind, introducing a wider audience to professional poker and the World Series, and is credited with starting the poker literature genre.