In games like Texas Holdem, the very first round is called the preflop round. Before the game can officially begin, the small blind and big blind place their mandatory bets. The preflop round is the first betting roundĪs you may have already noticed, all poker game variants that use community cards feature several game phases and each one has its own name. The preflop in poker is the round of the game that occurs before the dealer puts down the first three community cards.