Texas Hold’em rules for beginners: the blinds, the flop, turn and river, betting rounds, hand rankings, side pots and our own odds on what the board does.
How to Play Texas Hold’em: Rules, Hands and Betting, Step by Step
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Quick answer: in Texas Hold’em each player gets two private cards (hole cards) and shares five face-up community cards. You make the best five-card hand you can from any of those seven cards. There are four betting rounds: before the flop, after the three-card flop, after the turn and after the river. The best hand at the showdown wins the pot, unless everyone else folds first.
Not to be confused with Ultimate Texas Hold’em, the casino table game where you play against the dealer instead of other players.
Texas Hold’em rules at a glance
| Players | Usually 2 to 10 at one table |
|---|---|
| Deck | One standard 52-card deck, no jokers |
| Your cards | 2 hole cards, dealt face down |
| Community cards | 5: the flop (3 cards), the turn (1) and the river (1) |
| Betting rounds | 4: preflop, flop, turn and river |
| Your hand | The best 5 cards from your 2 hole cards and the 5 on the board, using two, one or none of your own cards |
| Forced bets | A small blind and a big blind, posted by the two players left of the dealer button |
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How to play Texas Hold’em, step by step
- The button and the blinds. A marker called the dealer button moves one seat clockwise after every hand. The player to its left posts the small blind (usually half the big blind) and the next player posts the big blind. These forced bets give everyone something to play for.
- The deal. Every player gets two cards face down. Only you can see yours.
- Preflop betting. The player to the left of the big blind (called “under the gun”) acts first. Each player in turn folds, calls the big blind or raises. Play goes clockwise until everyone still in the hand has put in the same amount.
- The flop. Three community cards are dealt face up in the middle. Everyone can use them. A new betting round starts with the first player still in the hand to the left of the button.
- The turn. A fourth community card is dealt, followed by another betting round.
- The river. The fifth and last community card is dealt, followed by the final betting round.
- The showdown. If two or more players are left, they show their cards and the best five-card hand wins the pot. If everyone else folds at any point, the last player left wins without showing.
What can you do when it’s your turn?
| Action | What it means | When you can do it |
|---|---|---|
| Check | Pass the action on without betting | Only if nobody has bet yet in this round |
| Bet | Put the first chips into the pot in this round | When nobody has bet yet |
| Call | Match the current bet | After someone has bet or raised |
| Raise | Increase the current bet | After someone has bet |
| Fold | Give up your cards and any chips you have already put in | Any time it’s your turn |
In no-limit and pot-limit games, a raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise in the same round. So if the big blind is $2 and someone raises to $6 (a raise of $4), the next player who wants to re-raise must make it at least $10.
Texas Hold’em hands: what beats what
Hold’em uses the standard poker hand rankings, from best to worst:
- Royal flush: A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠
- Straight flush: five cards in a row, all the same suit
- Four of a kind
- Full house: three of a kind plus a pair
- Flush: any five cards of the same suit
- Straight: five cards in a row of mixed suits
- Three of a kind
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
Only your best five cards count, and suits never rank against each other. When two players have the same hand, the pot is split. Our poker hand rankings guide has examples, the odds of each hand and how ties are broken.
What does “playing the board” mean?
Sometimes the five community cards make a better hand than anything you can make with your own cards. Then your hand is the board itself, and the best you can do is split the pot with anyone else who also plays the board. Example: the board is 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣ and you hold K♠ 2♦. Your hand is the nine-high straight on the board. A player holding 10-x has a ten-high straight and beats you.
Limit, pot-limit and no-limit Hold’em
| Game | How much you can bet or raise | Example ($1/$2 blinds) |
|---|---|---|
| Limit | Fixed amounts: equal to the big blind preflop and on the flop, then double on the turn and river. | $2 bets on the first two rounds, $4 on the last two |
| Pot-limit | Anything up to the size of the pot | With $10 in the pot, the biggest bet is $10 |
| No-limit | Anything up to all the chips in front of you | You can move “all-in” at any time |
Limit suits beginners, because no single bet can cost you your whole stack.
All-in and side pots
You can never be forced out of a hand because you can’t cover a bet: you can go all-in with what you have. But you can only win, from each opponent, as much as you put in yourself. Any extra chips the others bet go into a side pot that only they can win.
Example: Amy goes all-in for $100, and Ben and Cal both call and keep betting until each has put in $300.
- Main pot: $300 ($100 from each of the three). Amy, Ben and Cal can all win it.
- Side pot: $400 (the extra $200 each from Ben and Cal). Only Ben or Cal can win it.
If Amy has the best hand, she takes the $300 main pot, and the better of Ben’s and Cal’s hands takes the $400 side pot.
Heads-up rules: when only two players are left
With two players, the blinds work differently. The player on the button posts the small blind and the other player posts the big blind. The button acts first before the flop, then last on the flop, turn and river.
Who shows their cards first at the showdown?
Under the Poker Tournament Directors Association (TDA) rules used by many casinos and tournaments, the last player to 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. Home games and card rooms can have their own house rules, so ask before you play.
What the board does: our own odds
We counted all 2,598,960 possible five-card boards to see how often the community cards set up each kind of hand. These numbers help you read a board quickly:
| By the river, the board… | How often | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| has at least one pair on it | 49.3% (about 1 in 2) | A full house or four of a kind becomes possible for someone |
| has three or more cards of one suit | 37.1% (about 3 in 8) | A flush is possible for someone |
| has three cards that fit in one straight | 74.7% (about 3 in 4) | A straight is possible for someone |
We also worked out what happens when two players hold the same hand, such as A♠ K♥ against A♦ K♣. Counting all 1,712,304 possible boards, they split the pot 95.7% of the time. Each player wins outright only 2.2% of the time, when four or five cards of their suit come and give them a flush. So if you and an opponent both turn over ace-king, expect to get your money back, not to win theirs.
For the odds of your own cards improving, such as hitting a flush draw, see our poker maths guide and the pot odds calculator. If you want to know how rare the best hand of all is, read royal flush odds.
Where did Texas Hold’em come from?
Tradition says the first hand was dealt in Robstown, Texas, in the early 1900s. In 2007 the Texas Legislature passed a resolution recognising Robstown as the game’s birthplace. The resolution gives no exact year, so treat the date as tradition rather than a recorded fact.
Play responsibly
Learn the rules with play chips or free games before you play for money. Poker for money is legal in some places and not others, so check your local laws first. Set a budget you can afford to lose, and see our responsible gambling guide if poker stops being fun.
How we checked this
- Players, blinds, the order of play, the flop, turn and river, and using two, one or none of your hole cards: Wikipedia, PokerStars and PokerNews.
- Minimum raise, heads-up blinds and the order of showing cards: Poker TDA Rules (rules 45, 36 and 18), checked against Wikipedia, PokerStars and Bicycle Cards.
- Limit, pot-limit and no-limit betting: Wikipedia and PokerStars.
- All-in and side pots: Wikipedia and HomePokerTourney.
- Robstown: the Texas Legislature’s House Concurrent Resolution 109 (2007) and Wikipedia.
- Our maths: the board odds and the ace-king split come from our own program, which counted every possible board. To test it, we used it to count every seven-card hand, and its totals match the published counts for all nine hand types.
Last checked: 4 November 2026, when we counted every possible board ourselves for the board odds and the ace-king split, and checked each rule against two or more independent sources.
Texas Hold’em rules FAQ
How many cards do you get in Texas Hold’em?
Two private hole cards each. Five community cards are then dealt face up for everyone to share, so each player has seven cards to make a five-card hand from.
Who goes first in Texas Hold’em?
Before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind acts first. On the flop, turn and river, the first player still in the hand to the left of the dealer button acts first.
Do you have to use both hole cards?
No. You can use both, one or neither of your hole cards. If your best hand is all five community cards, you are playing the board.
What happens if two players have the same hand?
They split the pot. Suits don’t break ties in Hold’em. In our own count, two players holding ace-king with no suits in common split the pot 95.7% of the time.
What is the minimum raise in no-limit Hold’em?
A raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise in that round. With $1/$2 blinds, the smallest raise before the flop is to $4.
Is Texas Hold’em the same as Ultimate Texas Hold’em?
No. In Texas Hold’em you play against other players for the pot. Ultimate Texas Hold’em is a casino table game where you play against the dealer and are paid from a pay table.
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