Texas hold'em (also hold'em, holdem) is the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States. In contrast to poker games like stud or draw where each player holds a separate individual hand, hold 'em is a community card game where each player may use any combination of the five community cards and their own two hole cards to make a poker hand.

Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets – forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. (In some cases, the small blind is some other fraction of a small bet, e.g. $10 is a common small blind when the big blind is $15. The double-blind structure described above a commonly used and more recent adoption.)

After slow but steady gains in popularity throughout the 20th century, hold 'em's popularity surged in the 2000s due to exposure on television, on the Internet, and in popular literature. During this time hold 'em replaced 7 card stud as the most common game in U.S. casinos, almost totally eclipsing the once popular game. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Because each player only starts with two cards and the remaining cards are shared, it presents an opportune game for strategic analysis (including mathematical analysis). Hold 'em's simplicity and popularity has inspired a wide variety of strategy books which provide recommendations for proper play. Most of these books recommend a strategy that involves playing relatively few hands but betting and raising often with the hands one plays.

Texas Holdem tables are built to allow more players to be able to be dealt in to each poker hand. That is one of the big differences between regular Dining Poker Tables with 6-8 player spots and the 8-10 player Texas Holdem tables. So there is no better way to fully enjoy the great game of holdem poker then owning one of Cardroom Supply's full size Texas Holdem poker tables.

Texas hold 'em is often commonly associated with poker tournaments largely because it is played as the main event in many of the famous tournaments, including the World Series of Poker's Main Event, and is the most common tournament overall. Traditionally, a poker tournament is played with chips that represent a player's stake in the tournament. Standard play allows all entrants to "buy-in" a fixed amount and all players begin with an equal value of chips. Play proceeds until one player has accumulated all the chips in play. The money pool is redistributed to the players in relation to the place they finished in the tournament. Usually only a small percentage of the players receive any money, with the majority receiving nothing. As a result the strategy in poker tournaments can be very different from a cash game.

Proper strategy in tournaments can vary widely depending in the amount of chips one has, the stage of the tournament, the amount of chips others have, and the playing styles of one's opponents. Although some authors still recommend a tight playing style, others recommend looser play (playing more hands) in tournaments than one would otherwise play in cash games. In tournaments the blinds and antes increase regularly, and can become much larger near end of the tournament. This can force players to play hands that they would not normally play when the blinds were small, which can warrant both more loose and more aggressive play.

Texas Hold'em is currently the most popular form of poker by far. It is a game that has all the elements that make poker such a wonderful pastime. There are opportunities to bluff, gamble, apply mathematical skills, get lucky or unlucky, use strategy, and possibly win large sums of money.

Hold'em is offered in virtually every card room and is on many Internet sites. Meanwhile, an increasing number of poker players play Texas Hold'em at home. In this article you will learn how to play, the differences among the various limit games (limit, no limit, and pot limit), and basic and advanced strategies. There's a lot of information to get through, so move on to the next section where we will begin by examining the basics of Texas Hold'em Poker.