Assignment #1
Here we are at the end of the fifth chapter of a book entitled Ken Warren Teaches Texas Hold 'Em, and you're probably thinking, "How is anybody going to teach me anything if I don't have any homework assignments?" Your wishes will be granted, starting right now. All of the material presented up to this point was necessary to teach you the basics about poker and Texas hold 'em. Now that you have some of the basics under your belt, we can change our focus from the broad and general to the more narrow and specific aspects of the game.

Your first assignment is to create a file, folder, ledger, logbook, or notebook for keeping your poker records. It can be anything from a memo pad with just the basics to a computer file with every category you can imagine. It has to meet just three main criteria: it must contain your own personal records, they must be permanent, and you must be able to update them easily whenever you wish to.

If you have no idea how you want to create this record, then I suggest you use an 8.5"xll" notepad. Following the eighteen categories listed above, number your lines 1 through 18 and fill in the blanks. Use the rest of the page for narrative remarks. Your notepad will have 50, 75 or 100 sheets, and you will be using one sheet per playing session. By the time you run out of sheets, you will know what is most comfortable for you. You'll either start with another tablet or you might switch to a computer-generated spreadsheet or program. Good luck.

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Don't forget that you're just a beginner. Don't be too hard on yourself. When you start playing hold 'em seriously and you're keeping records, you might get discouraged when you have to record loss after loss. This might keep you from wanting to play the game at all. I want you to allow yourself a training period where we will agree in advance that your results don't matter. After all, it's a training period. Nobody can expect to be a big winner while he's still learning, no matter what the subject is.

Give yourself a break. Decide how long you want to take as your learning period. During that time, concentrate on improving as a player and don't worry too much about the results. Of course, you'd like to see an upward trend after a while, but you should be more concerned about increasing your understanding of the game. When you feel like you're no longer a beginner, start your records over with a zero balance, as if you had never played before. Don't forget to have fun!

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Each player is dealt two cards face down. These cards are called the pocket cards. Do not show these cards to any other player, since they constitute your entire private hand.
Remember that the blinds have to put their bets in the pot before the deal. The play now starts with the player to the immediate left of the big blind and moves clockwise. Each player has three options. He can fold (muck his hand), call (keep his hand and put the correct amount of money in the pot), or raise (increase the bet by at least as much as the previous bet).

If no one has raised by the time the action comes back to the small blind, he can either fold, call (put in enough money to make up the difference between his bet and the big blind's bet), or raise at least the amount of the big blind. For example, in a $l-$4-$8-$8 game where the big blind is $2, a raise of $1 is not permitted, because all raises in poker must be for at least the amount of the previous bet.

In a structured game, the raise must be exactly the small-tiered amount. Since the blinds had to put their money in the pot before they saw their hands, they also have the option of raising themselves.

If no one has raised by the time the action gets back around to the big blind, he then has the option to raise. The dealer will ask him, "Option?" and the big blind has to answer with either "Check" ("I bet nothing more") or "I raise."

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Blinds are players who are forced to put money in the pot before the cards are dealt. The casino uses blinds to force action from the first two players to the left of the dealer. The big blind is always the same amount as the small bet and the small blind is one-half of the big blind. For example, the blinds in a $4-$8 game would be $2 in the small blind and $4 in the big blind. An exception is a $l-$4-$8-$8 limit game, in which the big blind is $2 and the small blind is $1.

In a game where the small blind can't be exactly half of the big blind, it's usually rounded down. For example, the blinds in a $3-$6 game should be $3 and $1.50 but, since a half-dollar is not a betting denomination, the blinds are $3 and $ 1. The same principle applies in a $ 15-$30 game where the blinds should be $15 and $7.50. The small blind is rounded down, so the blinds are $15 and $5, or three red chips and one red chip. Did you notice that a $3-$6 game is the same as a $15-$30 game, with only the color of the chips being different?

The purpose of having two blinds is to create a situation where two of the players will have random hands, since they put their money in the pot before seeing their hands, and other players will have voluntarily entered the pot after looking at their hands. This mix of totally random hands and the hands that the other players wish to play against them is designed to create a contest for the pot when the flop comes. Because of the two blind feature of the game, there is no ante in Texas hold 'em as there is in stud or draw poker.

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