In Texas Holdem poker the fifth and final face-up card is called the River or the Fifth Street. After the River is dealt the final betting round takes place starting with the first active player to the left of the dealer. For all players at the table this is probably the most important part of the game of Texas Holdem poker. Once the last community card is dealt in the middle of the table, every Texas Holdem player knows the strength of his final hand. And if you have the strongest hand, now is your chance to steal the pot from your opponents.
This is part of a series explaining how to play each phase of Texas Holdem. Below is the complete list of articles.
The River
At this point, in order to make the right decision you must consider a few very important things as how many players are still in the hand, what is your position at the table and of course – the strength of your final hand. Remember that nobody of your opponents will see the River unless he has a good hand. If you think your hand is good enough you should bet if you are first to act because folding your hand will cost you the whole pot. But if you think the other players at the table have better hands, you should fold, because calling in this case will cost you your bet.
When you are already on the River, there are some situations when you have to fold your hand. If there is tight poker player against you who bets only very strong hands and you think your hand is not strong enough, you should fold. Of course you must not allow this player to take the pot every time, so if you are sure you hold the strongest hand, you should play until the showdown. If there are two or more Texas Holdem players left in the hand and one of them bets and all the other raises, you should consider folding because it is certain that at least one of them holds the best hand. It is not possible all the players at the table to bluff.
Once the River card is dealt, we recommend you to avoid folding your final hand. You are almost at the end of the game and it means that you have been holding good cards up to this moment. So you have the chance to hold the winning cards. At this point of the game the pot is large enough and you can make good money if you stay in the hand. During this fourth and final round of betting call any bets, unless you hold a poor hand. In case when one of your opponents goes all-in, but you are sure you have the best hand, the only thing you can do is to call, because you will not have the option to raise.
After the final betting round is completed, the showdown takes place. The player who forms the best five-card hand using any combination of the five community cards and his two pocket cards wins the pot. If there are two Texas Holdem players with equal hands and these two hands are stronger than all other hands in the game, they split the pot.