Texas Hold'em

What you need & setup

1. Give every player an equal starting stack of chips (for example, 100). Chips are points used as turn mechanics, nothing more.
2. Give one player the dealer button; it rotates one seat left after every hand.
3. The player left of the button posts the small blind (a forced 1-chip stake) and the next player posts the big blind (2 chips). Blinds guarantee there is something to play for.
4. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck.
5. Deal every player two cards face down — these are your hole cards, seen only by you.
6. Confirm the table stakes structure (no-limit, pot-limit, or fixed-limit) before the first hand.

Turn sequence

1. Pre-flop: starting left of the big blind, each player folds (quit the hand), calls (match the big blind), or raises (put in more).
2. The flop: the dealer places three community cards face up in the middle, shared by everyone.
3. A second round of chip decisions: players may check (pass without staking) if no one has raised, or call, raise, or fold.
4. The turn: a fourth community card is dealt face up, followed by another round of decisions.
5. The river: the fifth and final community card is dealt, followed by the last round of decisions.
6. Showdown: remaining players reveal hole cards; the best five-card hand wins the pot.
7. If everyone but one player folds at any point, that player wins the pot immediately without showing cards.
8. The button moves left and the next hand begins.

The Goal

Each hand, players compete for the pot — the pile of chips staked during the hand. You win it either by holding the best hand at showdown or by being the last player who has not folded.

That second path is what makes poker special: you can win with a weak hand if your chip actions convince opponents you are strong. Bluffing is a legal, central part of the game.

Your Cards and the Board

You get exactly two private hole cards. Five community cards are dealt face up in stages — three on the flop, one on the turn, one on the river — and belong to everyone.

Your final hand is the best five cards chosen from your two hole cards plus the five on the board, in any combination. You may use both hole cards, one, or none ('playing the board').

Example: you hold A♠ 9♠ and the board is K♠ Q♠ 4♦ 7♠ 2♣ — you have an ace-high flush using both hole cards.

Hand Rankings

From strongest to weakest: royal flush (A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit), straight flush, four of a kind, full house (three of a kind plus a pair), flush (five of one suit), straight (five in sequence), three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.

A straight can use the ace high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5), but never 'around the corner' (Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight).

Ties are broken by the ranks within the hand: a pair of kings beats a pair of nines, and equal pairs compare their side cards (kickers). If the best five cards are identical, the pot splits.

How Chip Rounds Work

Chips are the game's turn mechanic. On your turn you may check (pass, only if no one has staked more this round), call (match the current amount), raise (increase it), or fold (surrender your cards and any chips already in).

A round of decisions ends when every player still in has matched the highest stake or folded. Then the next community card(s) come out.

Position matters: the small and big blind act first after the flop, and the player on the button acts last — seeing everyone else's choice before making your own is a real advantage.

Showdown and Split Pots

After the final round of decisions on the river, remaining players reveal their hole cards. The dealer reads each player's best five-card hand and awards the pot to the strongest.

If two or more hands are exactly equal in rank, the pot is split evenly. Remember that only five cards count — a sixth card never breaks a tie.

A player who runs out of chips mid-hand can stay in for the portion of the pot they matched (the main pot), while later chips form a side pot they cannot win.

Ending a Session

Cash-style play simply continues hand after hand; end at an agreed time and count stacks. Tournament-style play eliminates players as they run out of chips, and the last player with chips wins.

In tournaments the blinds increase on a schedule, which forces action and guarantees the game ends. Agree the schedule before you start.

Scoring & how the game ends

• Chips are points only. Each hand's pot goes to the winner; there is no other scoring during play.
• For a cash-style session, play to a time limit and compare final stacks against the starting 100 chips.
• For a tournament, rank players by elimination order — last player holding chips finishes first.
• Split pots evenly among tied hands; an odd leftover chip traditionally goes to the tied player closest to the dealer's left.

Winning: Win each hand by holding the best five-card poker hand at showdown, or by being the only player left after everyone else folds.

Common variations

These are genuine regional and house-rule differences — none of them is “the one true way” to play. Agree with your table before starting.

• No-limit

  A player may stake any number of their chips at any time, up to their whole stack. The dramatic 'all-in' format used in most famous tournaments.

  Common: The standard for tournaments worldwide

• Fixed-limit

  Raises are restricted to preset amounts (small stakes on the first two rounds, doubled on the last two). A calmer, more mathematical game.

  Common: Traditional in older card rooms and many home games

• Pot-limit

  The maximum raise equals the current size of the pot. A middle ground that keeps pots from exploding early.

  Common: More common in Europe and in Omaha crossover games

• Short deck (six-plus)

  Cards 2 through 5 are removed, making a 36-card deck. Hand frequencies change, and in most rule sets a flush beats a full house.

  Common: Popular in some Asian high-stakes circles and online

• Heads-up rules

  With exactly two players, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop but last after it.

  Common: Universal rule for two-player hold'em

A little history

Texas Hold'em is generally traced to early 20th-century Texas, with the town of Robstown often credited by most accounts, though documentation from that era is thin.

The game is widely said to have spread to Las Vegas in the 1960s and grew into the dominant tournament poker format over the following decades.