How to Play Texas Hold'em

The Table and the Button

Hold'em is a positional game, and position is tracked by a disc called the button. It marks the nominal dealer and moves one seat clockwise after every hand, which keeps the forced bets and the order of action rotating fairly.

The two players to the left of the button post the blinds: the small blind, usually half the minimum bet, and the big blind, equal to it. These are live bets rather than fees, so the money counts toward any call the player later makes in that betting round.

• The button acts last on every street after the flop, which is why it is the most valuable seat.
• The blinds act last before the flop, then first on every street afterwards.
• In tournaments an ante is often added on top of the blinds, posted by the big blind on behalf of the table in most modern structures.

Order of Play

Every hand follows the same sequence. The names of the three community-card stages — flop, turn, river — are also the names of the betting rounds that follow them.

1. 1
   Blinds are postedThe two seats left of the button put in the small and big blind before any cards are dealt.
2. 2
   Hole cards are dealtEach player receives two cards face down, one at a time, starting from the small blind.
3. 3
   Pre-flop bettingAction begins with the player to the left of the big blind and continues clockwise. Each player folds, calls the big blind, or raises.
4. 4
   The flopThree community cards are turned face up together. Betting starts with the first active player left of the button.
5. 5
   The turnA fourth community card is dealt, followed by another betting round in the same order.
6. 6
   The riverThe fifth and final community card is dealt, followed by the last betting round.
7. 7
   ShowdownIf two or more players remain, hands are revealed and the best five-card hand takes the pot.

A hand can end at any point: once every player but one has folded, the remaining player wins without showing cards, and the undealt community cards are never turned over.

Betting Actions

Only five actions are available, and which of them are legal depends on whether a bet is already standing in the current round.

Check

Pass the action without wagering. Legal only when no bet is standing.

Bet

Put the first chips of the round into the pot. In no-limit, the minimum is usually the size of the big blind.

Call

Match the largest bet made in the round.

Raise

Increase the standing bet. A raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.

Fold

Surrender the hand and any chips already committed to the pot.

A betting round ends when every remaining player has either matched the largest wager or folded. If a player puts in their whole stack and cannot be matched in full, the surplus is returned or placed in a side pot that only the players who matched it can win.

Verbal declarations are binding in most card rooms, and a single chip pushed forward without a spoken raise is read as a call. Both conventions exist to stop players from working out reactions before committing.

Making the Hand

The hand is the best five cards available from the two hole cards and the five community cards. There is no requirement to use the hole cards at all: a player may play the board, though that usually means sharing the pot.

Suits never break a tie in hold'em. When two players hold hands of identical rank, the pot is divided; the odd chip, where one exists, goes to the player closest to the left of the button in most house rules.

Betting Limits

Hold'em is dealt under three betting structures, and the structure changes the game far more than the rules do.

No-limit is the default in both cash games and tournaments because the ability to bet a whole stack makes position and bet sizing meaningful. Fixed-limit hold'em, once the standard, survives mainly in mixed-game rotations.

The Numbers Behind Common Spots

A handful of probabilities explain most of what happens over a session. They are worth memorising because they decide whether a call is profitable, not merely whether it feels justified.

Those figures assume no information about other players' cards. At a full table some of the cards that would complete a draw are already in other hands, which is why the arithmetic of pot odds is applied to the price of a call rather than treated as a guarantee.

Mistakes That Cost Beginners Money

• Playing too many hands from early seats, where there are more players left to act and less information available.
• Calling raises with hands that make second-best holdings, such as weak suited aces and dominated offsuit cards.
• Treating a flush draw as a made hand; nine outs with two cards to come arrive about 35% of the time, not most of the time.
• Sizing bets by what the hand needs rather than by what the pot already contains.
• Sitting in a game whose blinds are large relative to the money set aside for poker, which is the subject of bankroll management.

Terminology

Hole cards

The two private cards dealt to each player. Also called pocket cards.

Street

A single betting round together with the card or cards that opened it.

Out

A card still unseen that would give a player the best hand.

Nuts

The strongest hand possible given the community cards.

Kicker

A side card that decides the pot when two players hold the same pair or trips.

Rake

The card room's charge for running the game, taken from each pot or as an hourly fee.

The glossary carries the rest, including the terms specific to online play and tournament structures.

Frequently Asked Questions