“Ante first” in the same situation prevents a big blind from being posted and a player can only win back the chips they are all-in for, thus having zero additional equity in the hand. Savage is a proponent of “ante first” and plans to use that definition of a rare all-in situation for the WPT. Bet 3X the Ante (A “Play” Bet.) Bet 4X the Ante (Also a “Play” Bet.) After you’ve made your decision, the dealer reveals 3 face-up cards—the “flop.” (This is also how regular Texas holdem works.) If you checked when you got your hole cards, you have the option now to place a bet of 2X the Ante (another example of a “Play Bet.”). One of the recent trends in online poker is the introduction of No Limit Hold’em cash games with an Ante. Major sites such as FullTilt, UB (formerly UltimateBet), and Absolute Poker have added these games to their lobby looking to attract more players.

Casinos are always looking for new games to offer bored gamblers. Over the last decade or 2, these games are more commonly related to poker than anything else. But games like these—including Scientific Gaming’s Ultimate Texas Holdem—are more akin to blackjack than to poker. In fact, dealing Ultimate Texas Holdem is considered dealing a novelty casino game. The College of Southern Nevada covers how to deal Ultimate Texas Holdem in their blackjack class.

What’s the big difference between Ultimate Texas Holdem (and games like it) and “real” poker games? The main difference is who you’re competing with. In a so-called real poker game, you’re competing with the other players at the table. If you win money, you’re winning it from them. If you lose money, you’re losing it to your competitors at the table.

This isn’t a value judgment. It’s perfectly all right to play house-banked casino games. Gamblers do it every day. I’m pointing out the distinction because it’s important to know what you’re getting into when you play a casino game.

With that as a premise—understanding in detail what you’re getting into when you’re playing a casino game—I offer you this post: “The Definitive Guide to Ultimate Texas Holdem.” The idea is to share everything you would ever need or want to know about Ultimate Texas Holdem. Luckily, it’s not that complicated a game. There’s no need to write an entire book about it, like you would do with blackjack or poker.

Ultimate Texas Holdem is a card game where you play heads-up against a casino dealer. Other players at the table are also playing heads-up against the dealer. It features a progressive jackpot, among other payouts.

You start by making 2 equal-sized bets:

• The Ante Bet
• The Blind Bet

At most casinos, the minimum bet is either $5 or $10. The maximum bet is usually between $50 an $500.

You also have 2 optional bets you can make:

• The Trips Bonus Bet
• The Progressive Bet

What Is The Ante In Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments

You start by getting 2 hole cards from the dealer—these are 2 cards that are dealt to you face-down, just like in regular Texas holdem.

When you get those cards, you can choose from the following actions:

What Is The Ante In Texas Holdem Poker Wsop

• Check
• Bet 3X the Ante (A “Play” Bet.)
• Bet 4X the Ante (Also a “Play” Bet.)

After you’ve made your decision, the dealer reveals 3 face-up cards—the “flop.” (This is also how regular Texas holdem works.)

If you checked when you got your hole cards, you have the option now to place a bet of 2X the Ante (another example of a “Play Bet.”) After that decision is made, the dealer turns over 2 more face-up cards—the turn and the river, in Texas holdem terms. Note that the action here is different than in traditional Texas holdem. Normally you’d have a turn, followed by a betting round, then the river, followed by another betting round.

Once you’ve made your decision, the dealer reveals her hole cards and announces the final hand. If your hand beats the dealer’s hand (using the standard poker hand rankings), you win even money on your Ante bets and the Play bets. On the other hand, if the dealer’s hand beats yours, you lose your Ante, Blind, and Play Bets. If you tie, then these bets are all treated as a “push.” (A push is when your original bet is returned to you, but without any winnings. You have neither a net win nor a net loss.)

The Blind Bet is handled differently. It pays off if you win AND if you have a straight or better. If you have less than a straight but still beat the dealer, the Blind Bet is treated as a push. The Blind Bet is paid off based on a pay table. The better your hand, the more it pays off. (It’s like video poker in this respect.)

Casinos generally use a shuffling machine called an “i-Deal single deck specialty shuffler.” That’s because this game was created by Shufflemaster, which is now a division of Scientific Games. Shufflemaster’s reason for existence is to sell shuffling machines to casinos, so creating new cards is something they do in service to this goal.

The Blind Bet and the Trips Bonus Bet have 2 different pay tables.

Here’s a common pay table for the Blind Bet:

Keep in mind that the Blind Bet pays off regardless of whether the dealer qualifies. Also, notice that 3 of a kind doesn’t pay off for the Blind Bet, which is an interesting quirk of the game. The pay tables can vary—the casino gets to choose from multiple options. For example, some casinos pay off 40 to 1 instead of 50 to 1 for a straight flush. This changes the house edge for the game, of course.

Here’s a common pay table for the Trips Bonus Bet:

Here are a couple of facts to keep in mind about the Trips Bonus Bet:

• Your hand doesn’t have to win. It pays off regardless of whether you or the dealer wins.
• It wins even if you don’t have to use your hole cards. You can just play the board (the flop, turn, and river.)
• It wins even if you fold.

How the Progressive Bet and Jackpot Works

The progressive bet in Ultimate Texas Holdem is also an optional side bet. At most casinos, this bet is a flat $1 bet. But at some casinos, the Progressive Bet is $5. You can win 1 of 2 progressive jackpots in this game—the smaller jackpot, or the larger jackpot. To win the smaller progressive jackpot, you must use at least 1 of your hole cards. The smaller progressive pays off for hands that are a full house or better.

To win the bigger progressive jackpot—which is 100% of the jackpot—you must use both your hole cards and the flop to form a royal flush. If you hit the royal flush on the turn or the river, you don’t win the bigger progressive. You can also win a percentage of the full big progressive jackpot

Casinos also feature something called an “Envy Bonus.” This is a bonus paid to any player at the table when one of the other players wins the progressive jackpot.

Casino games where you make decisions usually have a house edge that varies based on how well you make those decisions. In other words, your strategy matters. There’s always a mathematically correct play in every situation. In Ultimate Texas Holdem, your strategy is limited to whether you make Play Bets during the various stages of the game. For me, this isn’t an intuitive decision. You can find various websites offering strategies for this, but I have another recommendation:

The house edge is the amount of each bet that the casino projects you’ll lose on average based on the probabilities behind the game. Obviously, the lower the house edge, the better for the player. You should do everything you can to minimize the house edge on any casino game you play.

If you use perfect basic strategy on Ultimate Texas Holdem, the house expects to win a little over 2%. Let’s assume that the house edge is 10% if you don’t know basic strategy. What does that do to the cost of playing the game in the long run?

There’s an interesting post at Two Plus Two from a gambler describing his basic strategy for Ultimate Texas Holdem. I don’t know how close it mirrors a mathematically perfect strategy, but here’s what “nonprofitgambler” says is the correct way to play:

Preflop, he suggests raising with any of the following hands:

• Any ace
• Any k5+, and any king suited
• Q5s+, Q8+
• J8s+, JT+
• 33+ for pocket pairs

That small “s” after the number means that the cards are of the same suit (they’re “suited.”) On the flop, he says most people play the same, and that it’s correct—if you pair anything, you raise. But those obviously aren’t the only hands you should raise with here. You should also bet flush draws, straight draws, and combination draws. This means you have 4 cards to a big hand. On the river, you should bet any kind of made hand, but some boards are scarier than others.

Finally, I’d like to point out that the house edge on Ultimate Texas Holdem isn’t outrageous, but blackjack is still almost always a better deal. With perfect basic strategy, many blackjack games have a house edge of just 0.5%. This means you get the same kind of entertainment for closer to $2/hour instead of $8/hour.

You can play a nice, free version of Ultimate Texas Holdem at this site. It has a place where you can toggle the sound on and off. You can also toggle the “give advice” button off an on. If you’ve never played Ultimate Texas Holdem before, this page is a great way to practice. It’s refreshingly free of advertising, too, which is rare and unusual in this industry.

Also, if you like Ultimate Texas Holdem, I suggest you give multiplayer Texas holdem in the poker room a try—if you haven’t already. It’s a lot more fun, and you have more of an opportunity to get an edge, since you’re competing against other players.

That’s it for my “Definitive Guide to Ultimate Texas Holdem.” I can’t imagine any information you could want about the game that I’ve left out. But if I did miss something, or if you have questions about Ultimate Texas Holdem that remain unanswered, please put a note in the comments.

Sitting down to play Texas Hold’em for the first time can be a bewildering experience, what with players casually talking about spiking a double belly-buster to sink a sucker’s set. Unless you know the lingo, learning the game may be slow going, so take the time to study this comprehensive glossary of common Texas Hold’em terms before you move on to rules and strategy.

All-In – The trademark declaration of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, all-in is the phrase used by a player to signal that they are wagering all of their chips. You may also put an opponent all-in by betting enough to cover their entire stack should they commit to calling. Any hand of Hold’em can instantly become an emotional roller coaster the moment you put yourself all-in.

Ante – In tournament Hold’em, these are an escalating series of forced bets that each player must make before every hand. Typically the ante stage of a tournament begins after six blind levels have passed. Antes increase the size of pots before the cards have even been dealt and give aggressive players a reason to steal the blinds.

Blinds – Every hand of Texas Hold’em begins with two players ponying up forced bets before the cards are dealt. Known as the small and big blinds because you are effectively betting without seeing your cards, these positions on the table rotate after every hand, stimulating future betting by giving players a pot to fight over on every single deal. The small blind is always the seat directly left of the dealer button, while the big blind is the next seat to the left, meaning the players on the blinds act first throughout the hand.

Boat – Another name for a full house.

Broadway – The best straight possible, consisting of the 10-J-Q-K-A. Individually, these five cards are also known as Broadway cards.

Burn Card – Whenever the dealer is ready to reveal the next community card, he or she will first discard the top card in the deck face down on the table. By “burning” a card before the flop, turn and river, the dealer assures the rest of the table that everything is on the level, with no stacking of the deck or marked cards.

Button – Typically a circular disk with “Button” emblazoned on each side, this object is used in Texas Hold’em to denote the dealer position on the table. After every hand the dealer button is moved one seat position to the left, which moves the blinds and facilitates the forced betting fairly.

Call – Deciding to equal a bet made by another player to remain in the hand.

Check – When the action comes to a player and they elect to pass without betting any chips. You may verbally say check, or simply tap the table with your knuckles, to pass the action along without parting with any of your hard earned money.

Check-Raise – A raise which comes after you have checked to your opponent and they have bet into you. The cornerstone of every poker game is deception, and in Texas Hold’em the most basic act of trickery is the check-raise. When you check and passively invite your opponent to bet, only to respond with an immediate raise, the check-raise can chip away at their stack in short order.

Chop – A chop occurs when the action folds all the way around the table leaving only the small and big blinds, and both players elect to take their money back rather than play a paltry pot and surrender half of it to the rake.

Chopped Pot – A draw or tie during the showdown. If the remaining players turn over the same hand, such as a pair of jacks with an ace kicker, the pot is chopped up, or split into even portions and distributed.

Counterfeited – The unfortunate role reversal which can occur when the board cards nullify certain cards in your hand. A common example of a hand being counterfeited is when a player flops bottom two pair, say the 3-5 on a 3-5-10 flop, and the turn or river brings a second Ten to the board. The resulting pair of Tens shared by both players extinguishes the strength of bottom two pair, giving the lead to anybody with a pocket pair in the hole.

Door Card – Also known as the card in the window, this is the first card player’s see as the dealer is spreading the flop. Most casino dealers reveal the flop with a flourish, pausing with the door card tantalizingly exposed before rapidly flashing the rest of the flop across the table.

Double Belly-Buster – A straight draw in which you need to hit any of two unconnected cards to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 4-6-10, you now need any 5 or Ten to make a straight, thus you hold a double belly-buster straight draw.

Flat(call) – A modern take on a classic idiom, the word flat is used by younger poker players to denote a smooth call. The term is a bit superfluous, as there is no other way to call but to flat call, but you will invariably hear players mention that they “flatted” on the flop when recounting a recent hand.

Flop – The first three community cards revealed to the table simultaneously. The flop comes after the opening betting round and allows players to convert their two hole cards into a five-card poker hand of varying strength.

Fourth and Fifth Street – The fourth and fifth community cards used by all players to form a hand, these are more commonly known as the Turn and River.

Gutshot – A straight draw in which you need to hit precisely one card to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 4-5-K, you now need any 6 to make a straight, thus you hold a gutshot straight draw.

Hole Cards – Every hand of Texas Hold’em begins with the dealer distributing two cards face down to each player. The cards you hold “in the hole” are yours and yours alone, which means you should always protect them from prying eyes. Hole cards can form a total of 169 nonequivalent starting hands, ranging from the lowly 2♥ 7♣ offsuit to the almighty A♠A♦, or pocket aces, and knowing which of these to hold and which to fold forms the foundation of Texas Hold’em strategy.

Kicker – The tiebreaker used to determine a winner when players in a showdown hold the same pair. For example, if I have the Ace-King and you have the King-Jack, and a King is on board giving us both top pair, my Ace kicker bests your Jack kicker and the pot is shipped in my direction.

Muck – This term can be used as both a noun and a verb. Folding your hand is also known as mucking, while the pile of folded hands that accumulates during every hand is called the muck. A hand can be declared dead the moment it touches the muck, which is why most players use card protectors to keep their cards safe and sound.

On the Come – Betting in a situation where you are still drawing to make a hand. When you need the right card to come in order to complete a straight, flush or full house, and still decide to push the envelope with a bet or raise, you’re doing so on the come.

Open-Ended – A straight draw in which you have four consecutive cards and need to hit either end to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 9-10-A, you now need any 6 or any Jack to make a straight, thus you hold an open-ended straight draw.

Paint – A descriptive term for any face card, from Jack through King, which stems from the distinctive portrait-like appearance of these cards in most decks.

Pot – Used as a verb, as in “I’ll pot it,” this word is a fixture of Pot-Limit Hold’em, a game in which the maximum allowable bet is the current size of the pot.

Preflop – Any action that occurs before the flop has been dealt. Basically, the betting and folding to take place after you receive your hole cards, but before you see the flop, is known as the preflop stage of a hand.

Nuts – The best possible cards at any given moment in a hand. Pocket Aces is the nuts preflop, while the 10♥J♥Q♥K♥A♥ Royal Flush is the ultimate nuts. The ace-high flush is the nut flush, the Broadway straight is the nut straight, and the simple ace-high is sarcastically called the nut nothing.

Rake – The house fee taken from each cash game pot or tournament buy-in by the casino staff or home game operator. Because every single hand results in a few chips being pocketed by the casino cage, grizzled poker vets know that it takes talent just to beat the rake.

What Is The Ante In Texas Holdem Poker Real Money

Rags – A derisive epithet for any traditionally inferior starting hand consisting of unconnected, low cards.

River – The fifth and final community card to be revealed. Fortunes can be won and lost on the river, as this conclusive card completes the board and leaves players with their final hand before the showdown.

Set – Fortuitously forming three of a kind while holding a pocket pair is known in Texas Hold’em as hitting your set. A set of deuces is much stronger than a pair of aces, and anytime you spike a set it’s a cause for celebration, but the hand’s real strength comes from its propensity for turning into a powerful full house.

Showdown – When the flop, turn and river have been exposed and the final betting round has occurred, the players still holding cards confront one another to determine the pot’s winner. All hands are not always turned over at the showdown, as a losing player may elect to muck his meek holding rather than let the competition see the goods.

Suckout – Anytime the statistically inferior hand catches up to best a made hand. Players will complain like clockwork about the brutal suckouts they suffer through, and you will soon learn to dread suckout artists who seem to catch every card they need.

Suited – Whenever you hold two hole cards of the same suit, your hand is said to be suited. Suited hands like 6♣7♣ are perceived to be slightly more valuable than their unsuited counterparts, because the possibility of making a flush is improved.

Turn – The fourth community card to be revealed. The turn card comes after the flop and before the river, meaning it can be a pivotal point in any hand.