Texas Hold 'Em - Playing the game with a hold on the nation

Texas Hold 'Em: "Texas Hold 'Em" Playing the game with a hold on the nation No-limit Texas Hold 'Em is an odd name for the poker trend that has swept the nation. The game isn't exclusive to Texas, and you don't actually hold any cards. Each player gets two, which are dealt facedown on the table. You carefully sneak a peek and leave them there - then make a bet. Anybody who has watched the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel, Celebrity Poker on Bravo or the World Series of Poker on ESPN, or even wandered down to the basement rec room to find your eighth-grader setting a trap with a check-raise, knows what comes next. The dealer turns over three community cards, called the flop, followed by another bet. Then comes the turn, a bet, and, finally, the last card, called the river, and another bet. Use your two and any three of the five community cards to make the best poker hand. Hold 'Em tournaments are all the rage, and it's not just played in smoky back rooms with guys named Slim. Tonight, for example, there's a huge tournament in the comfortable confines of the Club at Key Center in downtown Cleveland, where proceeds benefit The Littlest Heroes, a charity that aids cancerstricken children and their families. If you don't yet know Hold' Em, hold on. This primer should help. But if, after reading, you're still not sure what to do, make like this section and fold. For the complete graphic, go here