Every new player in Texas Holdem faces a rather challenging question that must be answered to get started in this game the right way, that question being: who bets first in Texas Holdem.
There is a certain order for betting in Texas Holdem, and this order changes and depends on the stage of a hand you're at, as well as the number of players participating in the game.
Let's jump in straight to our thorough explanation. If there are three or more players in a hand in the first round which is also known as the pre-flop. In this stage, the player who is first to the left of the big blind is the one who goes first. Many professionals call this position 'Under the gun'. After the player in this position goes, the game continues in the clockwise direction and it ends with the big blind going in action.
Now getting to our second situation, three or more players in the subsequent betting rounds. In each 'flop, turn, and river', the player in the small blind position starts the action. And it ends with the player in the dealer position, the one we usually refer to as 'the button.'
In a heads up situation, the betting order changes for the pre-flop but remains the same for the post-flop. Let's get into it and break it up into simple words. To make sense to it, in a heads up situation during a pre-flop, instead of the button acting last, they go first. This is mainly because the other player is posting big blinds, which means that the button is the player to the left of the big blind. Another easy way to help you remember this once and for all is that the big blind must always act last before the flop, which means that in a heads up game, as the button is the small blind, they must play before the big blind player. During the post-flop round, as we explained above, the betting order remains unchanged, and remain the same in a heads-up game, the same it is with three players or more in the game.
There is a small exception that every player must know before engaging in this beautiful game. The post-flop order never changes, but the pre-flop can be altered sometimes if there is a player in the game who straddles. Now, most of the new players don't know what straddling is. Simply, a straddle is when the player seated to the left of the big blind posts a double big blind bet in front of him before the cards are being dealt. Mainly, he is buying the right to act last before the flop. In this case - a case of a straddle -the person seated just to the left of the straddler goes first pre-flop once the straddle has been wagered.
These rules are what make this game beautiful, it might seem complex and rather exhausting,
but once you get these rules engraved in your head, you can start enjoying the game and you'll never have to ask the same old questions again.