THE RIVER

The River card is the most loved and loathed card in Texas Hold 'Em, it can bring in your miracle card or shatter your chances of winning!

It is the last card that is dealt and available to you to make your best hand. You now have seven cards in total to choose from to make your best hand. Note that you do not need to use one of your own hole cards to make your best hand but this is the same for everyone else. This is also now the final round of betting and once again the options available to you are to bet(or raise), call or fold.

Your choices on the river are the same as the turn only by now you may know if you have the nuts (the best hand available). In the hand displayed above, the best hand available is a Straight Flush draw. The 3, 4 and 6 of clubs combined with the 5 and 7 of clubs or 2 and 5 of clubs will give you a Straight Flush. The second best hand available in Poker. You will read more about this on the next page, our hand rankings tables.

The second best hand available is a flush (two more clubs, with the highest value club making the best flush), more than one player can have the flush here with the highest value club winning the pot. No one can beat the nuts, which is the straight flush. The next highest value hand that could have been made is a straight, with a 7 and a 9 combining with the 10, 6 and 8. After that comes three of a kind or two pair.

You can see all the best hands next but based on the hand you have in the rankings table, you should make a decision based on the actions of the other players. If someone bets into you and you have a hand that is down the table then you may not be in such a good position. If no-one bets and you have a lower value hand, you could still be winning but be wary of someone trapping you.

If you have a pair and it is not the highest value pair, there is a good chance you are not winning- but it depends on the number of players seeing the river card.

Next, HAND RANKINGS>>