Texas Hold’em Poker: Simplified How to Play Guide
Discover Texas Hold’em, including the rules, hand rankings, and step-by-step gameplay in this guide. We’ll help you quickly and confidently improve your poker knowledge.
Visit our complete Texas Hold’em guide for a more in-depth look at how to play this game.
Rules of Texas Hold’em Poker
Texas Hold’em is a simple poker game, and while mastering it takes time, knowing the rules takes just a minute:
- Each player receives two private cards (hole cards)
- Five community cards are dealt in stages: flop, turn, and river
- Betting rounds occur before the flop and after each community card stage
- Players can fold, call, check, or raise during betting
- If the game reaches a showdown, the best hand wins
Texas Hold’em Poker Hand Rankings
Texas Holdem uses standard poker hand rankings, from high card to royal flush.
These rankings are the same as in popular games like Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) and 5-Card Pot Limit Omaha (PLO5).
How to Play a Game of Texas Hold’em Poker
The gameplay of Texas Hold’em will become very familiar to you after just a few hands. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide to how things play out, so you can get started confidently from your first hand:
#1. Place Small and Big Blind
Before any cards are dealt, the two players to the left of the dealer post forced (blind) bets. The first player posts the small blind, and the second posts the big blind. These bets start the action and create the initial pot.
#2. Deal Two Cards to Each Player
Each player is dealt two private cards, also called hole cards, face down. Once the community cards are dealt, players can combine these with their own to create the best five-card hand.
#3. Preflop Betting Round
After receiving their hole cards, players start the first betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind. Players can fold, call the current bet, or raise at this stage. Betting continues clockwise around the table until all active players have contributed an equal amount to the pot. Once complete, the flop is dealt.
#4. Flop Betting Round
The dealer reveals the first three community cards, called the flop, face up in the center of the table. The flop betting round begins with the first active player to the left of the dealer. Players can check, bet, call, raise, or fold. Betting continues clockwise until all active players have matched the highest bet. After this round, the dealer moves to the next round.
#5. Turn Betting Round
The fourth community card, called the turn, is dealt face up on the table. Once again, the betting round begins, starting with the first active player to the left of the dealer. Players can check, bet, call, raise, or fold. Betting continues clockwise until all remaining players have contributed equally to the pot. Once finished, the dealer moves to the final card, the river.
#6. River Betting Round
The fifth and final community card, called the river, is dealt face up on the table. The last betting round begins with the first active player to the left of the dealer. Players can check, bet, call, and raise until all remaining players have matched the highest bet. After this round, the game moves to the showdown.
#7. Showdown and Compare Combinations
After the final betting round, all remaining players reveal their hole cards in the showdown. No further actions happen at this stage. All active hands are now compared.
Players start revealing hands clockwise from the player who made the last action, and the best hand is deemed the pot winner. If multiple players have identical hands, the pot is split evenly. The highest unmatched cards break ties according to standard poker hand rankings.
Texas Hold’em Variants
There are several variants of Texas Hold’em and poker in general, with different betting rules. Some popular Holdem games include:
- No-Limit Hold’em: Players can bet any amount up to their total chips.
- Pot-Limit Hold’em: Bets are limited to the current size of the pot.
- Fixed-Limit Hold’em: Betting is restricted to a set amount each round.
Another simple variant in the poker family is 3 Card Poker, a fast-paced game with only three cards per player.
