How to Play Texas Hold'em

In Texas Hold'em each player gets two private cards, and five shared cards are dealt face up in the middle. You make the best five-card hand from any mix of your two cards and the five on the board. Over four rounds of betting you can check, bet, call, raise or fold; you win the pot either by having the best hand at the end or by making everyone else fold before then.

It takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to play well. This guide gets you through your first hand.

The goal: win chips, not hands

In blackjack you play against the dealer. In poker you play against the other players, and the chips you win come from them. You don't need to win many hands. You need to win big pots with strong hands and lose small ones with weak hands. Folding is the move you'll make most often, and that's correct.

The table and the blinds

A hold'em table seats two to ten players; House21 tables seat six. A dealer button marks who acts last in each round, and it moves one seat to the left after every hand.

Before any cards are dealt, the two players to the left of the button post forced bets:

• Small blind: half the minimum bet, from the player directly left of the button.
• Big blind: the full minimum bet, from the next player.

The blinds make sure there's always something in the pot to play for. On a 5/10 table, the small blind is 5 chips and the big blind is 10.

One hand, step by step

1. Preflop. Everyone gets two cards face down, called hole cards. Starting left of the big blind, each player folds, calls the big blind, or raises.

2. The flop. Three community cards are dealt face up. A second round of betting starts with the first active player left of the button.

3. The turn. A fourth community card. Another round of betting.

4. The river. The fifth and last community card. The final round of betting.

5. Showdown. If two or more players are left, they show their cards. The best five-card hand wins the pot. Ties split it.

At any point, if everyone but one player folds, that player wins the pot without showing their cards.

Your options when it's your turn

No-limit means you can bet or raise any amount up to all your chips at any time. A raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.

Example hand

Six players, blinds 5 and 10. You're on the button with A♠ J♠.

• Preflop: One player calls 10. You raise to 35. The big blind and the caller both call. The pot is 110 (35 × 3, plus the folded small blind's 5).
• Flop: J♥ 8♠ 3♣. You have top pair with the best possible kicker. Both opponents check. You bet 70. The big blind folds; the other player calls. Pot: 250.
• Turn: 2♠. Now you also have a flush draw: any spade on the river gives you a flush. Your opponent checks; you bet 150; they call. Pot: 550.
• River: K♦. Your opponent bets 200. You call.
• Showdown: They show J♣ T♣, a pair of jacks with a ten. You have a pair of jacks with an ace. Your ace is the higher kicker, so you win the 950-chip pot.

The kicker decided the hand. When two players share the same pair, the next-highest card plays. Our poker hand rankings explain ties in detail.

Side pots: when someone is all-in

If a player goes all-in with fewer chips than others are betting, they can only win as much from each opponent as they put in. The extra chips go into a separate side pot that only the players who matched them can win. The game sorts this out automatically; you just need to know why a short-stacked player who wins at showdown doesn't always collect everything.

Which hands to play

Most of the time, fold. Good starting hands are rare: you'll be dealt a pocket pair about one hand in 17 and pocket aces once in 221.

A simple plan for your first sessions:

Position matters. Acting after your opponents, on or near the button, means you see what they do before deciding. You can play more hands from late position and should play fewer from early seats.

Five beginner mistakes

1. Playing too many hands. A 7 and a 2 can win, but over time it costs chips.
2. Calling too much. If you're not confident enough to raise, folding is often better than calling.
3. Ignoring the board. A pair of kings looks great until four hearts hit the board.
4. Bluffing the wrong players. Bluffs work against opponents who can fold. Players who call everything will call your bluff too.
5. Chasing every draw. Calling a big bet to hope for one card is usually a losing play. The odds of each draw are in our hand rankings guide.

Texas Hold'em at House21

House21 runs no-limit hold'em cash tables with free virtual chips:

Every table seats six. A fresh 52-card deck is shuffled with a cryptographic random source before every hand. You have 20 seconds to act; if the timer runs out, the game checks for you if it can, otherwise it folds, and two timeouts in a row take you out of your seat. The house takes no cut of any pot. Chips have no cash value.

Common questions

Do I have to use both of my hole cards? No. Your best five cards can use both, one, or even none of them ("playing the board").

What beats what? From best to worst: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. The full hand rankings include examples and odds.

Is poker luck or skill? Both. Any single hand is mostly luck; over thousands of hands, better decisions win. That's the big difference from blackjack and roulette, where the house always keeps an edge; see which game gives you the best odds.

Take a seat at the Starter table in the lobby: the buy-in is 200 free chips. Words you don't know yet are in our glossary.