Texas hold em why is it called the river

You can visit the poker hands page here for more information! So, for example, if you have and the shared cards are A you have four-of-a-kind. If the shared cards were J-Q-K you would only have two nines. Sometimes the best texas hold em hand is made by the five shared cards on their own. If they were A and you had your hole cards would not play as there is a four-of-a-kind of higher value already showing. One is when the players in a hand turn over their hole cards and the player with the best hand wins.

This is known as a showdown. The other is that someone will bet enough that everyone else folds. This is how most hands end in Texas Hold'em and that's the magic of the game — you don't always need the best hand to win.

Okay, let's go over how a Texas Holdem hand works using only poker slang and see if you can keep up:. If not, have a read of our Poker Terms.

Comfortable with the texas holdem rules so far? Put your new skills to the test by playing one of our free poker games or you can always continue your learning journey on how to play poker across the dedicated section. Click here for more info. How to play poker Poker Hands Texas Holdem. Lobby views. Cash games. Rake and Blind Structure. Hand history.

Hand history replayer. The river is very similar to other betting rounds. One difference is that any players who still remain in the hand after the river action must now reveal the strength of their cards at showdown. In Stud, the river card is a hole card dealt individually to every remaining player.

The most important concept when playing the river is to make use of all of the available information. Up until the river our opponents have taken actions on each street which give us clues regarding the final strength of their hand.

It rarely makes sense to bet a mid-strength hand on the river. We should either be betting strong hands in the hopes of being paid off, or betting weak hands that we are using to bluff with. The river is the street in poker where the most information is available. Experienced players are better at using all of this extra information to their advantage.

This means there is a much bigger skill gap between professional and amateur players on the later betting rounds. New Player Log In. Newest Questions Post a Question Search All Questions Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims. Archived Questions Goto Qn. How did the poker terms "flop," "turn" and "river" originate? Currently voted the best answer.

When players arrive at the turn, the pot has usually grown from the pre-flop and flop rounds to a point at which they will now be deciding whether or not to commit to the hand. By the time a player has made it to the river, they'll know what hand they have as there are no further cards to come, and the remaining players will have a better idea of what their opponents are holding. Things can start to get a little more complicated when it comes to the turn. How you should play depends on a number of different factors, including the pre- and post-flop betting, your hand, the turn card and the number of opponents.

Before putting more money in the pot, you should ask yourself a simple question: is it worth your while to see these last two community cards?

Generally, you should only carry on betting if you think that you hold the best hand , or if you are one card short. Novice players often make the mistake of playing on with a mediocre hand and hoping for the best.