How no limit hold’em differs from other forms of poker is twofold. The first is in the precise amount of information that is held in common versus in private. Each player is dealt two cards facedown: the hole cards. This is privileged information. I can try to guess what you have based on how you act, but I can’t know for sure. The only information I’ll have is your betting patterns once the public information—the cards dealt to the middle of the table, faceup—is known. In hold’em, there are three stages of dealing the middle cards: the first three cards, called the “flop,” are dealt at the
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