How to Play Texas Hold'em
In briefTexas Hold'em takes a few minutes to learn and much longer to play well. Here are the rules of a hand from the first blind to the showdown.
Texas Hold'em is the poker game most people picture: two private cards each, five shared cards in the middle and chips moving around a table. It is played at home, in card rooms and online, from small friendly games to large tournaments. The rules fit on a single page. Playing sensibly takes longer, and unlike most casino games, your opponents are the other players rather than the house.
The basics
- A standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
- Usually between two and ten players at one table.
- Each player receives two face-down hole cards.
- Up to five face-up community cards are shared by everyone.
- Your hand is the best five-card combination you can make from those seven cards.
The button and the blinds
A marker called the dealer button moves one seat clockwise after every hand, so each player takes a turn in every position. The two players to the left of the button post forced bets before any cards are dealt: the small blind and the big blind, which is usually twice the small blind. The blinds make sure every hand has something to play for.
A hand, round by round
1. Pre-flop
Everyone receives two hole cards. The player to the left of the big blind acts first. Each player can fold (give up the hand), call (match the current bet) or raise (increase it). Action continues clockwise until all remaining players have put in the same amount.
2. The flop
Three community cards are dealt face up. From here on, the first active player to the left of the button acts first. If nobody has bet yet, a player may check, which means passing the action without adding chips.
3. The turn
A fourth community card appears, followed by another betting round.
4. The river
The fifth and final community card is dealt, and the last betting round takes place.
5. The showdown
If two or more players remain, they reveal their hole cards. The best five-card hand wins the pot. You may use both, one or neither of your hole cards; using all five board cards is called "playing the board". If everyone else folds earlier, the last player left wins without showing.
Hand rankings, strongest first
| Hand | Example |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | Ten to ace, all spades |
| Straight flush | 9-8-7-6-5, all one suit |
| Four of a kind | Four sevens |
| Full house | Three queens and two fours |
| Flush | Five hearts, not in sequence |
| Straight | 8-7-6-5-4 across two or more suits |
| Three of a kind | Three jacks |
| Two pair | Two tens and two threes |
| One pair | Two aces |
| High card | Nothing better, for example ace-high |
Suits never break a tie in standard Hold'em. If two players hold identical five-card hands, they split the pot.
Betting structures
No-limit lets a player bet all their chips at any time. Pot-limit caps a bet at the current size of the pot. Fixed-limit sets the bet sizes in advance for every round. Beginners usually find fixed-limit or small no-limit games the gentlest place to start, because mistakes cost less.
A little card maths
There are 52 × 51 ÷ 2 = 1,326 possible two-card starting combinations. Only six of them are a pair of aces, so you are dealt pocket aces once every 221 hands on average (6 ÷ 1,326). Any pocket pair at all turns up in 78 of the 1,326 combinations, about one hand in seventeen. Numbers like these explain why patience matters: strong starting hands are rare, and most hands are best folded early.
Tips for a first session
- Play fewer hands. Folding weak cards early is the single easiest habit to learn.
- Pay attention to position. Acting after your opponents gives you more information.
- Bring a fixed amount to the table and do not top it up after a losing hand.
- Learn the rankings until you never need to check them mid-hand.
Where the house fits in
In a casino card room or online poker site you play against other players, but the operator still earns money: it takes a small rake from each pot or charges a fee for each tournament entry. That cost comes out of the players' money over time, so even a break-even player slowly loses to it. If you enjoy comparing how different games make money for the venue, our piece on slot machines versus table games looks at that from the casino floor.
Play it for the game
Texas Hold'em rewards attention and patience, but short-term results swing wildly, and even good players go through long losing runs. Real-money poker is for adults (18+, or 21+ where local law requires it); treat each buy-in as the price of an evening's entertainment and stop for the day when it is gone.