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with seat one being directly to the left of the dealer in the box and moving counter-clockwise to the player seated directly to the dealer's right (seat ten). The seat assignment is absolute and is always the same.

The relative seating however, changes every hand. Let's say seat 3 (three positions away from the dealer's left) is "on the button." The dealer button (a round disk labeled dealer) signifies who would be distributing the cards if there was not a single dealer running the game provided by the casino. In which case each player would rotate the responsibility in a counter-clockwise fashion after each hand. If you are the "dealer" you get the privilege of acting last. The player immediately left of the dealer button is called the small blind. If you are playing 5/10 no limit hold em' the small blind is a forced bet of $5 per round, the person sitting to the left of the small blind is called the big blind, and is forced into the action for $10 every round. The person sitting to the big blinds left is said to be "under the gun" as they are the first to act before the flop (discussed later). Conversely, the person on the dealer's right is said to be in the cut off seat; a favorable late seat position. Further, relative to the dealer button the table is dissected into thirds, with the first three seats to act called early seats, the following four middle seats, and last three called late seats.

BOARD TERMINILOGY
In Texas hold em' you are dealt two "hole cards" that only you look at. The five other community cards exposed on the board are termed the flop, turn and, river. The flop is the first three community cards, followed by a round of betting, checking, or raising. The turn is the fourth community card exposed on the board and the river is the last card showing. Checking is simply taking no action, whereas betting is making an initial wager, which other players in the hand may respond to by either folding/mucking (discarding their hand), calling, or raise for a greater wager.

DESCRIBING THE CARDS AND READING THE BOARD
Understanding hand rankings and being able to interface what is on the board with what you are holding is of paramount importance to understanding the basics of the game. A single card unpaired with either hole card or with anything on the board is the lowest ranked hand; referred to Ace high, King high, etc. The following rankings are a pair, two pair, and set/trips. Some interchange sets and trips, but many professionals refer to a set as

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