How to play Texas Hold’em

You play for the pot: all the chips bet during a hand. You win it in one of two ways: you hold the best five-card hand at the showdown, or you bet so that everyone else folds.

Your hand is the best five of seven cards: your two face-down cards (hole cards) and the five face-up community cards in the middle. You can use both, one or none of your hole cards.

You need a 52-card deck (no jokers), chips and a marker for the dealer (the button). Agree on how many chips everyone starts with.

1. Everyone draws a card. The highest card takes the button.
2. The player to the left of the button posts the small blind, the next player the big blind. Blinds are forced bets that go into the pot before the deal. The big blind is usually twice the small blind.
3. Everyone gets two cards face down, dealt one at a time clockwise in two rounds, starting with the player to the left of the button. The button gets the last card in each round.

Two players (heads-up): The player on the button posts the small blind, the other player the big blind. Before the flop the button acts first, after the flop the big blind.

After every hand the button moves one seat clockwise, so everyone takes turns paying the blinds.

• Check: decline to bet and keep your cards. Only allowed when you have nothing to match, meaning nobody has bet this round. Before the flop, only the big blind can check, and only if nobody has raised.
• Bet: put chips in when nobody has bet yet.
• Call: match the current bet.
• Raise: match the bet and put in more.
• Fold: give up your cards. Any chips you have already put in stay in the pot.

Before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind acts first, and the blinds count as bets. If nobody has raised, the big blind may still check or raise at the end. In every later round, the first active player to the left of the button acts first. A betting round ends when every active player has had a turn and all have checked or put in the same amount. A player who is all-in doesn't have to add any more.

All-in: You bet all your chips. You can do that even if they don't cover the full bet. You can then win at most as much from each opponent as you put in yourself. Anything the others bet beyond that goes into a side pot that only they play for.

Example: Anna goes all-in for 20 chips, and Ben and Carla each put 50 chips in the pot. The main pot holds 60 chips (3 × 20), which all three play for. The other 60 chips (2 × 30) form the side pot, which only Ben or Carla can win.

No-limit: The smallest bet is one big blind, and only your chips limit how much you can bet. A raise must be at least as big as the largest full bet or full raise so far in this round: if someone bets 10, you raise to at least 20. If someone raises the 10 straight to 35, a raise of 25, the next raise must go to at least 60. If an all-in isn't enough for a full raise, players who have already acted can usually only call or fold.
Limit: Bets and raises have a fixed size: one big blind before the flop and on the flop, double that on the turn and river. Usually one bet and three raises are allowed per round; when only two players are left, this cap often doesn't apply. Agree on which one you play before the first hand.

1. Preflop: the first betting round, on your two cards only.
2. Flop: the dealer discards the top card face down (the burn card), then turns three cards face up in the middle. Betting round.
3. Turn: burn one, turn a fourth card face up. Betting round.
4. River: burn one, turn the fifth and last card. Final betting round.

The five face-up cards are the board. Every player still in the hand can use them. Nobody gets any more cards of their own. If everyone but one player folds before the showdown, the hand ends immediately and the remaining cards are not turned over.

The ace counts high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5) in a straight, but a straight can't wrap around: Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight. All four suits are equal: a suit never decides between equally good hands, and the pot is split.

After the last betting round, the players still in the hand show their cards. The player who made the last bet or raise on the river shows first; if nobody bet on the river, the first player still in the hand to the left of the button shows first. Each player makes the best five-card hand from their two cards and the board, and the highest hand wins the pot. A player who is beaten may also muck: give up their cards face down without showing them. To win the pot, you have to show both cards.

All-in in tournaments: Under the Poker TDA tournament rules, all hands are turned face up immediately once a player is all-in and the other players have finished betting. From that point on, no player may muck.

• Same kind of hand: the higher cards win. A pair of kings beats a pair of queens. With the same pair, the remaining cards of the hand decide, highest first (the kicker). If the board is K-9-7-4-2, Anna holds K-Q and Ben holds K-J, Anna wins with the queen as her kicker. With two pair, the higher pair counts first, then the lower pair, then the fifth card. With three of a kind and four of a kind, the side cards break a tie; with a flush or high card, compare card by card from the top. Cards outside the best five don't count.
• Exactly the same five-card hand: the pot is split equally.
• Side pots: each pot goes separately to the best hand among the players competing for it.
• Everyone else folds: the last player wins the pot and doesn't have to show their cards.

Example: The board shows 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of mixed suits. Only a player with a 10 makes a higher straight and beats the board. If nobody has a 10, all remaining players play the straight on the board and split the pot.

Then the button moves one seat clockwise and the next hand starts.