Home of the best No Limit Hold'em

The king of poker meets the best platform ever. Get the best of Texas Hold'em on Natural8!

There's a reason why Texas Hold'em is the most popular card game in the world. It takes a few minutes to learn, but years to master. The thrill, strategy and unpredictability keeps you coming back for more. So now you want to learn to play?

Well Natural8 is here to help. Below we've outlined how to play Texas Holdem poker online for beginners, giving you the basic information you need to get started. Soon, you'll be developing your own strategy and style of play.

Texas Hold'em Rules

Texas Hold'em is the most popular type of online poker in the world. It's played with a standard 52 card deck, and there can be between 2-10 players at a table (Note: At Natural8 the max number of players is 6).

To start with, the dealer gives everyone two hole cards. These are your own personal cards that no one else should see. This is followed by four betting rounds (which we'll outline below), resulting in five cards being dealt face up on the table that every player uses. These are called community cards. You must then use your hole cards and the community cards to make the best five-card hand possible.

Player A

Community Cards

Player B

No Limit

All Texas Hold'em poker games on Natural8 are ‘No Limit', which means there is no limit to the maximum a player can bet at once. Thus players can go “all-in” and bet all of their chips on their betting turn.

Positions

The player on the left of the small blind. The big blind is the same as the minimum bet size.

The player immediately left of the dealer has to post the small blind.

Dealer

Each hand has one designated dealer. The dealer position determines the small and big blind positions. The dealer button is passed clockwise after every hand.

The image shows the positions that you should know before playing online poker. The “Dealer” chip will move clockwise around the table after every hand.

Actions

In each round of betting, the player has the option to do each of the below.

Fold

The player feels they can't win the hand, so forfeits any chips they have in the pot. They give their hole cards back to the dealer without showing anybody.

Check

If there is no new bet, the player can pass the bet to the next player without betting or folding. But if another player raises before the round of betting is complete, the player will then need to call, re-raise or fold.

Bet

The player bets a certain amount based on the strength of his cards (or bluff if they're feeling adventurous). The bet must be more than the Big Blind.

Call

If a bet has been made before it reaches the player, they can choose to Call to match the bet. If you don't have enough to match the Bet and you still want to play, you can go “All-In”; but you can only win the amount of chips you have left.

Raise

You can choose to bet more than the other bets that have been made so far. Bear in mind that it has to be at least double any previous bets made in that particular round.

All-in

Bet or Raise your full stack (the total number of chips you possess), leaving nothing behind.

Betting Rounds

There are four betting rounds in Texas Hold'em.

Pre-Flop

Everybody gets their first two cards (Hole Cards)

This is the round of betting made when you receive your two hole cards and before any community cards are seen.

The Flop

3 Community (Everyone's) cards are dealt

Once the first three community cards are dealt there's a second round of betting. You combine your hole cards and these community cards to make the best hand possible.

The Turn

A 4th community card is dealt

A fourth card is dealt called “the turn” followed by another round of betting. The additional card can completely alter player's actions as their hands get stronger or weaker.

The River

A final 5th community card is dealt

A final fifth card is dealt and another round of betting commences. You now need to see what your strongest hand is, and figure out if your competition has a stronger hand, missed a card they were chasing or are bluffing to win the pot.

The Showdown

If there's 2 or more players left, the betting that continues is the showdown

If two or more players are left after the action ends on the river, you enter The Showdown. This is where the psychology of poker really takes place. You need to figure out if your opponent has a stronger hand or is just bluffing to take the pot. If the hand is a tie, the pot is split evenly.

No Limit Hold'em Table Information

Stake	Table Name	Blinds	Buy-ins	Rake (%)	Rake Cap
High	NLH Diamond	$5 / $10	$200 ~ $1000	5.00%	$10
High	NLH Platinum	$2 / $5	$100 ~ $500	5.00%	$8
Middle	NLH Gold	$1 / $2	$40 ~ $200	5.00%	$6
	NLH Silver	$0.5 / $1	$20 ~ $100	5.00%	$5
	NLH Bronze	$0.25 / $0.5	$10 ~ $50	5.00%	$4
Low	NLH Purple	$0.1 / $0.25	$5 ~ $25	5.00%	$2
	NLH Red	$0.05 / $0.1	$2 ~ $10	5.00%	$1
	NLH Blue	$0.02 / $0.05	$1 ~ $5	5.00%	$0.50

VIP Games

Table Name	Blinds (Ante)	Buy-ins	Rake (%)	Rake Cap
VH Deep	$25 / $50	$2500 ~ $10000	5.00%	$25
	$50 / $100	$5000 ~ $20000	5.00%	$35
	$100 / $200	$10000 ~ $40000	5.00%	$40
	$200 / $400	$20000 ~ $80000	5.00%	$50
VH Ante	$25 / $50 ($10)	$2000 ~ $10000	5.00%	$25
	$50 / $100 ($25)	$4000 ~ $20000	5.00%	$35
	$100 / $200 ($50)	$8000 ~ $40000	5.00%	$40
	$200 / $400 ($100)	$16000 ~ $80000	5.00%	$50
VH Standard	$25 / $50	$1000 ~ $5000	5.00%	$25
	$50 / $100	$2000 ~ $10000	5.00%	$35
	$100 / $200	$4000 ~ $20000	5.00%	$40
	$200 / $400	$8000 ~ $40000	5.00%	$50

*For pots in the pre-flop, 3-bets pots preflop are raked. In a single raised pot preflop where everyone folds, there is no rake. All pots that see a flop are raked.

*All Hold'em tables are 6-max