There seems to be no actual record of when or where Texas Hold'em was first played. Legend has it that the earliest game was held in the early 1900's in a small town in Texas. There is a record of the game having been played in Dallas, Texas in 1925. A group of professional Texan gamblers introduced the game to Las Vegas casinos once the Vegas casinos became popular gaming centers.

Texas Hold'em is called a "community card" poker game because the players each receive two cards face down and then make use of five "community" cards which the dealer puts face up in the center of the table. This is one of the reasons it is so popular. It doesn't require any exchanging of cards from the player's hand nor is it necessary to "count cards".

The object of the game is to win the pot which is made up of all the money bet by all the players who have stayed in the game until the "showdown". The game is generally played with from two to ten players, although, theoretically, twenty-two people can play.

Texas Hold'em History
Texas Hold'em Strategies

There are three ways to play Texas Hold'em: limit hold'em, pot-limit hold'em and no-limit hold'em. Limit hold'em puts a restraint on the amount of money allowed for betting. Pot-limit hold'em means that the maximum betting raise can only be as large as the size of the pot. No-limit hold'em means that players may bet or raise any amount up to all of the chips a player has on the table. The no-limit hold'em is the form generally played in tournaments, and it is the main event in the World Series of Poker.

There is no ante in Texas Hold'em. Two bets, called "blinds" are posted by the two players to the left of the dealer. The first is the "small blind" which is generally half of the second blind which is the "big blind". Each player is then dealt two cards face down from a standard 52-card deck. These two cards will only be revealed to the other players at the "showdown". There is then a round of betting called the "pre-flop". After the pre-flop betting round, the dealer deals a "flop": three face up community cards. Assuming that there are at least two players still taking part, there is a second betting round. The dealer then turns up a fourth card called the "turn". This is followed by another betting round. A final single community card, called the "river", is then dealt. This is then the fourth betting round leading to the "showdown". If all but one of the players has folded, the remaining player does not need to show his hand, and he wins the pot. However, if two or more players remain after the final betting round, they have a showdown, and each player makes the best five-card hand possible out of the five community cards plus his two "hole" cards.
Texas Hold'em may sound confusing, but it really isn't. There are poker rooms on the internet where one can play for free until the player feels he is good enough to play for real money. However, Texas Hold'em needs to be played with caution particularly if one goes for the no-limit game. Stakes can then be high and one can both win or lose a lot of chips!