Wanna play Texas Hold'em but don't know where to start? It's okay, we've got you. How about starting with a few Texas Hold'em poker ground rules and working up from there?
In Texas Hold'em, simple rules go a long way: knowing the basic principles will let you elevate your game further, for instance, by incorporating a bit of poker strategy. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Instead, let's try to sort out the basic poker rules for Texas Hold'em first.
Let's crush this Texas Hold 'em 101!
Basic Rules and the Goal of the Game
As with most poker variants, the rules of Texas Hold 'em are fairly simple: you try to win the pot by having the strongest hand over a series of betting rounds. Easy, right? Let's break it down:
- At the beginning of a Texas Hold 'em round, every player is dealt two face-down cards, also called hole cards.
- Over a series of betting rounds, another five cards are dealt face-up on the table, aka community cards.
- Players then combine their hole cards with the community cards to form the best five-card hand.
Now, unlike draw poker, where you are dealt 3 or 5 cards right away, in Texas Hold'em, the five community cards are dealt in different stages of the game, making the gameplay slightly more complex:
- The flop: the first three cards are dealt after the first betting round
- The turn: the fourth card is dealt following the second betting round
- The river: the fifth card is dealt right after the third betting round
The goal is to have the best 5-card poker hand of all players, and you can build your hand by using both of your hole cards, only one, or none of your hole cards. If you prefer the hand made up of the five community cards, you can choose to ditch your hole cards altogether.
The betting progresses over the five rounds, and should all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the entire pot without having to show their cards.
This sets Texas Hold'em apart from other casino games: you don't necessarily have to have the best hand to win. You can also bluff your way to the pot by making players believe your hand is better and making them fold.
Finally, if two or more players remain once the betting is complete, in the stage aptly named showdown, the only way to win the pot is to actually have the strongest hand.
This pretty much rounds up the basics, so we can move on to the Texas Hold'em betting rules and how the game is dealt.
Overview of the Individual Game Rounds
Now, we will try to answer the question of How to play Texas Hold'em by laying out an overview of gameplay, the objective and how to achieve it, diving deeper into each separate round.
The Button
Now that you've got your friends around the table start the action clockwise, with the player left to the dealer button, a round disc that determines the dealer's position and always moves one seat to the left once a round is complete.
When playing poker at home, the player with the button will usually do the dealing; in casinos, however, the dealer is a designated person and doesn't partake in betting.
The two players sitting to the dealer's immediate left are called the small and the big blind and must make blind bets. Commonly, the small blind will put in half of the minimum bet, while the big blind will double the small blind's bet.
The blinds, or forced bets, are meant to initiate the wagering and kickstart the game; without mandatory bets, the game would be far less exciting because everyone could easily choose not to wager at all until all five community cards are dealt.
Once the blinds are in, the game takes place in the following stages, aka streets:
- Preflop
- Flop
- Turn
- River
Preflop: First Betting Round
Preflop begins after the dealer deals one card to each player in a clockwise direction, starting with the one to its left. The action starts with the player next to the big blind, playing in the position called under the gun due to the pressure it's under.
This player has three options:
- Call – match the big blind's bet;
- Raise – increase the bet
- Fold – resign from the game
If the player folds, they are out of the current hand.
If they choose to raise, the amount they must put depends on the game. In no-limit Texas Hold'em, for instance, the minimum raise must be double the big blind, while the maximum raise can mean all chips one player has (the all-in bet).
The Flop: Second Betting Round
Once the preflop is over, the dealer lays out the first three community cards, called the flop, and the second betting round ensues. In the second and any other subsequent betting round, the action starts with the first player left to the dealer button.
This is where the fourth betting option is introduced, in addition to the three already available (call, raise, fold):
Check – passing the action to the next player.
It's important to note that the check option is available only if none of your fellow players have posted a bet before you on the current street.
The Turn: Fourth Betting Round
Here comes the fourth community card, referred to as the turn. Similarly to previous streets in Texas Hold 'em, the turn involves a betting round similar to the previous street, where players are given the same four wagering options.
The River: Fifth Betting Round
Once the turn is completed, the fifth community card, dubbed the river, is dealt. This is followed by another betting round similar to the previous two with the same betting options. Upon completing the betting action, the remaining players expose their cards to determine the winner.
Showdown
The remaining players reveal their cards and, assisted by the dealer, determine the winning hand. According to official Texas Hold'em poker hand rankings, whoever puts together the best five-card combination wins the pot.
If a player bets at any point during a betting round but no opponent chooses to match the bet, the hand will end immediately, and the bettor will win the pot without showing the cards.
In Texas Hold'em, however, it is not necessary to have the best hand to win. This is where bluffing steps in. Bluffing is an essential part of all types of poker, Texas Hold'em included, and what sets it apart from other casino games.
Bluffing is convincing other players of the supremacy of your hand, usually by betting in a way that suggests your hand is stronger than it actually is, to make your opponents toss their cards into the muck before the final round.
Toss cards in the muck? If you're unfamiliar with this term, we suggest you check out our post about poker terms to get acquainted with the lingo.
The Ranking of Texas Hold'em Poker Hands
When it comes to poker hands, Texas Hold 'em rules are relatively simple: you score your hand according to the widely accepted poker hand rankings.
Here are the poker hands coupled with examples:
Royal Flush
The royal flush is the highest-ranked hand of all, which features five consecutive cards in the same suit in value order from ace through 10, as in A♦ K♦ Q♦ J♦ 10♦.
Straight flush
A straight flush stands for a combination of five sequential cards of the same suit, like J♠ 10♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♠.
Four of a Kind
Four of a kind or quads stands for a hand containing four cards of one rank in all four suits and a card of another rank, called the kicker, as in 9♥ 9♣ 9♦ 9♠ K♥.
Full House
Full house, otherwise known as a full boat or a boat (initially referred to as full hand), is a hand made up of the same rank cards in three different suits and a pair of the same rank in two different suits, such as A♥ A♣ A♦ 3♠ 3♥. Note that the triplet takes precedence over the pair.
Flush
Flush stands for five cards of the same suit in whatever order. An example is K♣ 10♣ 8♣ 7♣ 5♣.
Straight
Five cards in sequence made up of more than one suit. An ace can rank as either high or low, but not both in the same hand, such as 10♥ 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥. An ace-high straight like A♣ K♣ Q♦ J♠ 10♠ is referred to as a Broadway straight, whereas a five-high straight, like 5♠ 4♦ 3♦ 2♠ A♥, is dubbed a baby straight, bicycle or wheel, which is one of the common poker hand nicknames.
Three of a Kind
Three of a kind, aka trips or a set, is a poker hand made up of three cards of the same value in three different suits, such as 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ Q♠ 3♥. The three-of-a-kind hand is completed with the two highest available cards.
Two Pair
This hand stands for two different sets of two cards of matching rank. The highest-ranked remaining card completes the hand. For example, J♥ J♣ 5♦ 5♠ 7♥.
Pair
A pair stands for two cards of the same rank in different suits, such as A♥ A♣ K♦ J♠ 7♥. The rest of the hand is formed using the three highest-ranked cards at your disposal.
High Card
This is the lowest-ranked hand. It means that the highest card you were dealt is your best hand as none of the five cards can pair up. In case more than one player ends up with not even a pair, the hands are ranked by the highest card in each hand. An example hand is K♥ 8♣ Q♦ 2♠ 7♥.
Texas Hold'em Hand Probabilities
The table below shows some of the crucial statistical aspects of Texas Hold'em hands.
For each poker hand, you can see the probability (the number of favourable events divided by the number of all possible events), frequency (the number of possibilities in which a specific hand can occur), and odds (the ratio of the number of ways not to draw a hand (also known as odds against in poker)):
Let's take a full house as an example. For instance, there are 3,473,184 possible card combinations to create a full house out of a 52-card deck. We can calculate the probability of getting a full house by dividing the number of possibilities (3,473,184) by the total number of valid hands (133,784,560). The result is 0,02596102, or 2.596102% when expressed in percentages.
Finally, if we want to calculate Texas Hold'em odds, we need to subtract the number of full house possibilities from the total number of possible events, which is 130,311,376, and divide it by the number of ways to pull a full house. We get 130,311,376 : 3,473,184, that is 37,52 : 1.
Note: In the above table, probability and odds are rounded off, whereas the frequency is the exact number.
Types of Bets in Texas Hold'em Poker
As we said before, the betting principle in poker is what distinguishes poker from other card games. In Texas Hold'em, betting is the key because it is essentially a chip management game.
We already laid out the betting intervals in which players wager on their hands or don't if they deem that taking no action is wiser. When studying how to play poker, it is essential that you learn to minimize the losses when dealt a poor hand, that is, to maximize winnings with good hands.
Before the cards are dealt, the basic rules of poker Texas Hold'em require players to put an initial contribution to the pot, called an ante or blind bet to put the game in motion.
In any subsequent betting round, players have the following betting options at their disposal:
Bet
In each new betting round, the player who decides to put in new chips is making a bet, with the first bet based on the two cards held by players. Once the first bet is made, the next player can either:
Call
Calling or seeing a bet means matching the previous bet or raise;
Raise
Raising means adding more money to the pot. If you decide to raise, the rest of the players will either call your new bet or fold; or
Fold
If a player folds, they choose not to match the previous bet which essentially means they are dropping out of the game. If you're dealt a poor hand, feel free to fold. There's no shame in it and it's better than losing money. However, don't be too timid, either; of all types of poker players, the tight-passive is perhaps the least favourable.
Check
Checking is introduced in the second round (see: Flop) and basicaly lets yourefrain from betting, but remain in the game. However, checking is possible only until the first bet in a round is placed; you can't check if the player before you has put in money.
All-in
If a player doesn't have enough chips to call a bet, they can put in all of their remaining chips. Subsequent betting occurs in a side pot, with the all-in player being allowed to win the number of chips in the pool when they went all-in.
Most Popular Texas Hold’em Betting Formats
No-Limit
No-Limit Texas Hold’em is a pretty self-explanatory betting system. In this format, there is no upper limit to how much you can bet in each round. If you’re certain of your hand, you can go “all-in”, putting out all of your chips.
Pot-Limit
In Pot-Limit Texas Hold’em, your bets are limited to the current size of the pot. In other words, your max bet must match the pot and cannot exceed it.
Fixed Limit
Finally, in Fixed-Limited Texas Hold’em matches, players establish the minimum and maximum bets and mustn’t go over them. Naturally, the max bet in Fixed-Limit poker is lower than the pot size.
Tips for Beginners and Strategy
Now that you’re familiar with poker Texas Hold’em rules, you could start by playing a couple of online poker rounds, just until you feel comfortable spending money.
Poker freerolls are a great chance to learn to scan the board quickly and memorise the poker hands.
Once you’re at the table, always pay attention to where you’re seated; if you’re a dealer, you will always get in on the action the last, leaving you ample space to plan your next move. Likewise, if you’re in under the gun position, you should thread more carefully because you will be the first to react. You can learn more about it in our piece about basic poker strategy.
Finally, we advise you to bet only what you can stand to lose, so determine your bankroll and don’t exceed it.
