How to Play Texas Hold'em

 

Texas Hold'em might seem intimidating at first, but the basics are simple. If you're new to poker, this is the game to start with. By the end of this guide, you'll know the rules of Texas Hold'em, what hole cards and community cards are and how they work, how the four betting rounds play out, plus hand rankings, betting limits, beginner strategy, poker odds, and a whole lot more. Here's our detailed guide on how to play Texas Hold'em.

Objective

Before learning the details, it's good to know your main goal: win the pot. You can do this in two ways. Either have the best hand when everyone reveals their cards, or bet so that everyone else folds before the end. That second way means you don't always need the best cards to win.

Quick Texas Hold'em Poker Glossary

Before we begin, here are a few terms you'll see throughout this guide.

• Hole cards: The two private cards dealt to you that nobody else can see.
• Community cards: The five face-up cards in the middle of the table that everyone shares. "The board" is another name for the cards laid out in the middle. You'll hear "on the board" used a lot.
• The pot: The pile of chips in the middle that the winner of the hand takes.
• Blinds: Forced bets two players put in before any cards are dealt, so there's always something to play for.
• All-in: Betting every chip you have left in one go.
• Kicker: A side card that breaks a tie when two players have the same hand. If you both have a pair of Kings, the next highest card decides it.

Texas Hold'em Rules at a Glance

Here's the short version before we walk through a full step-by-step. These are some of the Texas Hold’em poker basics you should know.

Hole Cards and Community Cards

Each player gets two private hole cards. Five shared community cards (the board) are dealt face up in the middle. You make your best five-card hand by combining the two with the five.

Dealer Button and Blinds

Before the cards come out, the two players to the left of the dealer post forced bets called blinds: a small blind and a big blind (usually double the small blind). A marker called the button shows who is dealing. It rotates clockwise each hand, so the blinds move along with it.

Betting Actions Explained (Check, Bet, Call, Raise, Fold)

There are five things you can do on your turn:

• Check: Pass the action along without betting, only possible if no one has bet yet.
• Bet: Put the first chips in. Betting everything you have is going all-in.
• Call: Match the current bet to stay in the hand.
• Raise: Increase the current bet, forcing others to pay more or fold.
• Fold: Give up the hand and lose any chips you have already put in.

The Four Betting Rounds (Pre-Flop, Flop, Turn, River)

Betting happens over four rounds: pre-flop (after the hole cards), the flop (first three community cards), the turn (fourth card), and the river (fifth card). We walk through each one in detail below.

Showdown and Winning the Pot

If two or more players are left after the final bet, they reveal their cards, and the best five-card hand wins the pot. If everyone else folds first, you win without a showdown.

Hand Rankings

Knowing which hands beat which is the heart of poker. At showdown, the player with the highest-ranked hand wins, so it pays to memorize this list early. Here are all the hands from strongest to weakest.

Royal Flush: This is the best hand there is. Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all in the same suit (like all spades).
Straight Flush: Five cards in a row, all of the same suit. If both players have one, the higher card wins.
Four-of-a-kind: Four cards of the same rank, like four Kings. If two players both have four-of-a-kind, the higher one wins. If they match (because it's on the board), the highest fifth card breaks the tie.
Full House: A three-of-a-kind plus a pair. If two players both have one, the higher three-of-a-kind wins. If those match, the pair decides it.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit. If two players both have a flush, the higher cards win.
Straight: Five cards in a row, any mix of suits. Highest cards win in a tie. The Ace can sit at either end. It plays high in 10-J-Q-K-A, and low in A-2-3-4-5 (sometimes called the wheel).
Three-of-a-kind: Three cards of the same rank. If two players match, the remaining cards (the kickers) decide the winner.
Two-pair: Two separate pairs. The higher pair wins. If the higher pairs match, the lower pairs are compared, and if those match too, the fifth card breaks it.
Pair: Two cards of the same rank. The other three cards are kickers. If two players have the same pair, the highest kicker wins.
High card: No pair, nothing. You just go by your highest card. If two players both miss everything, the higher cards win.

How to Play Texas Hold'em Step by Step

Now, let's run through a single hand from start to finish so you can see how it all fits together.

Pre-Flop

Before anyone sees a card, the blinds are posted. Then each player is dealt two hole cards, and the first betting round begins. Here, you decide if your cards are strong enough to play or if you should fold and wait for a better hand.

One thing to remember: most players can't check before the flop. The blinds are considered bets, so you need to match them or fold. Everyone from the first player to act up to the small blind must call, raise, or fold. The big blind is the exception. If no one raises before the action returns to the big blind, that player has already matched the bet and can check to see the flop for free.

To keep things orderly, there are a couple of simple rules about who acts when. Action moves clockwise around the table. Once a player acts, the person to their left goes next. For the pre-flop round, the player to the left of the big blind acts first. From the second round onward, the first player to the left of the button kicks things off.

A few seats have names worth knowing, since they'll come up constantly once you start reading strategy guides:

• Under the Gun (UTG): The player to the left of the big blind. They act first pre-flop, which is the toughest spot at the table since everyone else still gets to react to them.
• The Cutoff: The seat just to the right of the dealer button. It's one of the best positions to play from, because only the button acts after you.
• The Button: The dealer position, and the best seat in the house. You act last on every round after the flop, so you always have the most information before deciding.

Flop

After the first round of betting wraps up, the dealer puts three cards face-up in the middle. These belong to everyone, and you can use any of them to build your five-card hand.

Then comes the second round of betting. You can put more chips behind your hand here, check if no one else bets, call or raise if someone else starts the betting, or fold if you don't like the odds. At the end of the round, everything goes into the pot.

Turn

Next, a fourth community card hits the table. This one's called the turn, and just like the flop, you can use it as part of your final five-card hand.

The players still in the hand go through a third round of betting, and once again the chips get collected into the pot. Then the river comes out.

River

The river is the fifth and last community card. Like the others, you can use it with your hole cards to make your best hand.

After the river, there is a fourth and final betting round. When that's finished, everyone still in the hand reveals their cards to see who wins. This is called the showdown.

Showdown

At the showdown, everyone still in the hand reveals their cards, and the best hand takes the pot.

A poker hand is always exactly five cards. You make your hand using your two hole cards and the community cards. You can use both, one, or even none of your hole cards. Just the five community cards work too, if that gives you the best hand. The key is to have five cards in total. For example, if you've got five clubs between your hand and the board, that's a flush.

And what happens if two players tie? This can happen, especially when the best hand is on the board for everyone. In that case, the pot is split evenly between the tied players. This is called a split pot.

Betting Structure and Limits

Texas Hold'em poker has several betting formats. They all use the same rules for cards and hand rankings. The only thing that changes is how much you're allowed to bet and raise.

No-Limit Hold'em

This is the most popular format and the one you'll see in big televised tournaments like the WSOP Main Event. As the name suggests, there are no limits. You can bet any amount at any time, all the way up to every chip in front of you. Going all-in is always on the table, which makes for big swings and big pressure. The only catch is that a raise has to be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.

Pot-Limit Hold'em

In pot-limit, the most you can bet or raise is the current size of the pot. So if there's 100 in the middle, your biggest possible bet is 100. This ensures that the betting can’t rapidly escalate. You'll see pot-limit more often in Omaha, but it also shows up in Hold'em.

Fixed-Limit Hold'em

Fixed-limit uses set bet sizes. There's a small bet for the pre-flop and flop rounds, and a big bet (usually double) for the turn and river. Raises come in those same fixed increments, and most rooms cap the number of raises per round at four. It's a slower, lower-swing way to play, which makes it more beginner-friendly.

Texas Hold'em Odds and Probabilities

You don't need to be a math whiz to play Texas Hold'em, but a few numbers help you read the game better. Those that are worth knowing are how often each hand shows up, and how likely you are to be dealt certain hole cards.

The chart below shows how rare each five-card hand is. The rarer the hand, the stronger it sits in the rankings.

The next table covers your starting hand, the two hole cards you're dealt before any betting. Premium hands are rare, which is exactly why they're worth playing.

The Rule of 2 and 4

A handy shortcut to know is the rule of 2 and 4. Count your outs, which are the cards that complete your hand. On the flop, multiply your outs by four to estimate your chance of hitting by the river. On the turn, multiply by two. A flush draw has nine outs, so on the flop you have roughly a 36% chance to get there. It's not perfect, but it's close enough for quick decisions at the table.

Beginner Texas Hold'em Strategy

Knowing the rules is just the first step. The good news is you can avoid most beginner mistakes by building a few simple habits.

Play Tight and Aggressive

The winning style for most beginners is tight and aggressive. Tight means you're picky about which hands you play, while aggressive means that when you do play, you bet and raise instead of just calling along.

New players often just call, which is called limping. The problem is, calling only wins if you have the best hand at showdown. Betting and raising give you another way to win by making opponents fold. As a beginner, try to bet and raise with your good hands instead of just calling. Passive players give away free cards and rarely win big pots.

Position Matters

Your seat at the table, compared to the button, is more important than you might think. Acting last (on or near the button) is a big advantage because you see what everyone else does before you decide. Acting first (like under the gun) is tougher since you have no idea what others will do. Play more cautiously from early positions and a bit more freely when you're in a later position.

Avoid Playing Too Many Hands

New players often get caught up in the excitement and play too many hands, especially weak ones. It's tempting to play every hand, but most starting hands aren't worth it. Try to play only the top 15 to 20% of hands, like big pairs, two high cards, or strong suited connectors, and fold the rest before the flop. This way, you'll lose fewer chips on hands that probably won't win.

Pay Attention to Pot Odds

Pot odds are a simple way to decide whether calling a bet is worth it. You compare the size of the bet you have to call against the size of the pot you could win.

Say there's 80 in the pot and your opponent bets 20, making it 100. You have to call 20 to win 100, so you're getting 5-to-1 odds. If the odds of completing your draw are better than that, calling makes sense over the long run. If they're worse, folding is usually the smarter play. You don't have to nail the math every time, of course. Even a rough sense of pot odds will keep you from making expensive calls on weak draws.

Learn Basic Bluffing

Bluffing is betting with a weak hand to make a stronger one fold. It's a real part of the game, but new players tend to overdo it. The best beginner bluffs are semi-bluffs, where you bet with a draw that can still improve. That way, you have two ways to win: your opponent folds, or you hit your card. Pick your spots, bluff against fewer opponents rather than a crowded pot, and don't waste chips if it seems like the other person clearly won’t fold.

Beginners Cheat Sheet

Keep this short list handy while you find your feet:

• Hand rankings, strongest to weakest: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two-Pair, Pair, High Card.
• Strong starting hands to play: big pairs (Aces, Kings, Queens), Ace-King, and other two high cards or strong suited connectors.
• Fold most other hands before the flop. When in doubt, fold.
• Play tighter in the early position and looser in the late position.
• When you do play a hand, lean toward betting and raising instead of calling.
• Use the rule of two and four to size up your draws.
• Check the pot odds before calling with a draw.
• Don't go broke chasing weak hands or bluffing players who won't fold.

Wrapping up

There are four betting rounds: one before the flop, one on the flop, one on the turn, and one after the river. The flop, turn, and river are when the community cards are dealt face-up. This isn't everything about the game, but it's a solid place to start.

Hold'em is easy to learn, but it can get tricky fast. That's why new players often lose quickly. You can pick up the rules in five minutes, but it takes years to master the game. Next, you can learn about hand odds, betting strategies, ranges, equity, and more. If these terms are new to you, don't worry, we'll explain them.

FAQs

How many players can play Texas Hold'em?

Texas Hold'em runs with anywhere from 2 to 10 players at one table. Two player poker is called heads-up. Most casino and home tables seat 6 to 9, and 6-max is a popular online format. Large tournaments connect many tables at once, so a single event can have thousands of players competing for the same prize pool.

What is the order of play in Texas Hold'em?

In Texas Hold’em, the action moves clockwise. After the blinds are posted and the hole cards are dealt, the player to the left of the big blind acts first pre-flop. On the flop, turn, and river, the first active player to the left of the button starts each round.

Is bluffing important in Texas Hold'em?

Yes, bluffing is an important part of the game, but it should only be used sparingly. Bluffing lets you win pots when a better hand folds, and it keeps opponents from reading you easily. Strong hand selection and position will win you more over time.

Can I play Texas Hold'em poker online for real money or just for fun?

Both. Plenty of sites and apps offer free play-money games where you can learn without any risk. Real-money online poker is also available, but whether you can access it depends on where you live and your local laws. Some regions license and regulate it, while others restrict it. Check the rules in your area before depositing, and consider social or sweepstakes poker as alternatives.

How do I calculate pot odds and implied odds in Texas Hold'em poker?

Pot odds compare the bet you must call to the pot you could win. If the pot is 80 and you call 20 to win 100, you're getting 5-to-1 odds. Call when your chance of hitting beats that. Implied odds go further by adding the extra chips you expect to win on later streets if you hit.

What happens if there's a tie in Texas Hold'em?

When two or more players hold the same best five-card hand, they split the pot evenly. This is called a split pot, and it happens most often when the strongest hand is on the board for everyone. Kickers, which are the side cards, break many near-ties before it gets that far.