Texas Hold 'Em: The Showdown
Like a face to face gunfight in the Old American West, a Texas Hold ‘Em showdown is tense and exciting (and, perhaps very bad for one of the participants!) In this article, we’ll discuss “The Showdown” in Texas Hold ‘Em, and give you some tips to consider as you play.
The showdown is the round where you make your best five-card hand from your two hole cards and the five community cards. Whoever has the best hand during the showdown wins the game. Please note – there is no betting at a Texas Hold ‘Em showdown (as technically, the last bets placed were River round bets.) Let’s go over the structure of Texas Hold ‘Em so we’re more familiar as where the showdown fits in.
The game starts with two players posting blinds. The “Pre-flop” round follows and players get their two hole cards. The “Flop” round is next and three community cards are dealt. Many players will decide to fold or stay during this round since they can make reasonable estimates on their chances since they have five out of seven available cards. The Turn and River rounds are next, with each round giving a community card (and a chance to bet/raise/fold).
At this point, River bets have been placed, raised, called, etc, and more than one player remains. So it’s time for an old-fashioned showdown.
During showdown you’ve already committed to your hand and it would be foolish (if even allowed) to fold at this point. When making your hand, use whatever combination of hole and community cards you like. Some variants and house rules exist that limit what you can use so always check before starting a game. However, for the most part you have freedom to use whatever cards you like. It’s important to keep in mind that only five cards count toward who wins. This means if two or more people have equal hands, you can’t pick a sixth or even seventh card to break the tie.
After your hand is created, the two remaining cards don’t exist for purposes of determining a winner. The best hand wins. Unless there’s a tie, of course!
So what happens if two people tie to win the pot? That’s easy! You split the pot (and the smiles) as you take the money from the other players! If the pot cannot be split exactly in half due to large chip denominations, smaller denominations should be exchanged to make it as fair as possible. If the players still can’t split the pot evenly, then poker etiquette usually states to give the left over money to the player on the left of the button (since that’s the worst playing position.)
Now that you know some of the basics about the Showdown (and other Texas Hold ‘Em rounds), go out there and win some money! Good luck!
