Poker Texas Holdem Rules
- Texas Holdem Betting Rules: No-Limit, Limit & Pot-Limit In the world of poker the popularity of No-Limit games is a relatively recent development. For many years, in fact, poker was predominantly a Limit or Pot-Limit game.
- The Rules of Texas Hold’em. Before you begin playing Hold'em, you'll want to learn the rules. In Hold'em, each player is dealt two private cards (known as ‘hole cards’) that belong to them alone. Five community cards are dealt face-up, to form the ‘board’.
- Simply, it pits each player against the dealer in heads-up hands of Texas Hold'em poker. Whoever has the best five-card poker hand at the end, wins. As in Blackjack, you only have to beat the dealer's hand to win, not the other players at the table.
- While a poker home game is a great way to be introduced to the rules of Texas Hold'em, the best way to improve your Texas Hold'em skills is to play in free Texas Holdem games online. Virtually every poker site offers free-to-play, 'play money' poker games where you can try out the games and get used to the software before investing any money.
Texas Holdem is the most popular poker played online, in casinos and around the world in people’s homes. If you’re new to poker then this is the game you want to learn first. Read these basic texas holdem rules and you’ll be playing confidently in no time.
The PDF rules of poker are provided below for Texas Hold'em, the most popular poker variant.
To get the PDF printable version of this post click on of the unlock buttons below:
Other popular game variants include Pot Limit Omaha and 5card draw.
Table Of Contents
- Texas Hold'em Rules
- Poker hand Ranking System
Texas Hold'em Rules
In Texas hold’em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole’ cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.
There are a total of four betting rounds: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river. The betting rounds will be detailed further on.
If you have a dedicated dealer (such as at a casino), the button will still move around the table so everybody will eventually have to pay the blinds. The button doesn't show who is dealing in a casino; the button shows who is seated the best position at the table and where the blinds are located.
If you just sat down (out of turn) you will have to pay the blinds in order get dealt a hand; otherwise, you can wait until the blinds come around to your seat. You should wait for the blinds as paying twice is unprofitable.
The size of the blinds depends on the limit; for example, a 1/2 No Limit Hold'em game would have a big blind of $2 and a small blind of 1$. The small blind and big blind are located to the left of the button.
This is shown in the case of a 6 handed game below:
Poker Texas Holdem Betting Rules
The blinds are an important part of the rules of poker. These forced bets which give players an incentive to play; in other words ‘spice up' the game. Without the blinds, there would be no penalty for waiting and only playing strong hands. The only hand worth playing would be two aces!
Antes are another form of forced bets which are often used the increase the action in some game types such as tournaments and deep stacked cash games.
Pre-flop – The First Betting Round of Hold'em
The first round of betting takes places starting at the position to the left of the big blind (early position or EP). Each player has the following options:
Raise: you can raise the current bet to increase the stakes of the game. If someone has raised before you, you can still raise again – this is call a reraise. The minimum size you can raise is typically chosen to be twice that of the last bet or raise.
Call: When you do not want to raise the stakes but want to continue with your hand you can match the current bet.
Fold: If you feel your hand is not worth playing any further you can fold your hand and not commit any more bets.
Check: If there is no bet placed you can check in order to see the next card. This isn't applicable to preflop. The blinds are the first bet preflop which must be matched with a call or raised, if a player wishes to continue.
Players must act in sequence until all bets are settled. The button must always act last in the first sequence. This first round of betting called ‘pre-flop’ occurs before the flop is dealt.
The Flop – The Second Betting Round
The second round of betting takes places after the three community (shared) cards called the flop are dealt. The action will be to the first player to the left of the dealer. This is opposed to the action starting to the left of the big blind during the preflop betting round.
The first player to act has the option to check bet or fold; although you should not fold when you can check for free. The betting rounds after the flop is dealt is collectively known as ‘post-flop’.
The Turn – The Third Betting Round
The third round of betting occurs after the second community card has been dealt. This card is called the turn. Again, the action starts with the active player to the left of the dealer.
The River and Showdown – The Fourth Betting Round
The fourth and final round of betting occurs when the dealer turns over the river card. The hand ends with the showdown of hands or if there is only one live hand remaining (the other player(s) have folded).
At showdown, the player with the best five card combination from their hole cards and the community cards wins the final pot. Split pots occur when both players have the same best five cards.
After each hand, the button moves to the left of the dealer. This means everyone will have to play the blinds at some point.
Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving.
The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our home page if you want to improve your poker game!
Other notes:home page if you want to improve your poker game!
home page if you want to improve your poker game!
Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!
The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!
- Royal Flush (649,739:1)
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.
- Straight flush (72,192:1)
Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.
- Four of a kind (4,164:1)
Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads’.
- Full House (693:1)
Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!
- Flush (508:1)
Five cards all of the same suit.
- Straight (254:1)
Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.
- Three of a kind (46:1)
Three cards of the same value.
- Two pair (20 : 1)
Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!
- One pair (1.37:1)
Two cards of the same value.
- High card
The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.
Kickers
A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is A♥K♦5♠ 7♠ 2♦ both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q♣ is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.
Split pots
Split pots occur when both players get to showdown and have the same hand rank. The pot is divided up equally between each of the players.
To take an example, if player A has K♠J♥ and player B has K♣Q♠ on a A♥K♦5♠5♣2♠ board both players will have two pair and ace kicker as their best hand (A, K, K, 5, 5). Therefore the pot will be split between the two players.
Alternatively, if the neither player can improve the hand on the board it will also be a split pot. If the board is A♥K♦5♠5♣K♠ and player A has Q♠J♣ and player B has 4♣4♠ then both players will be playing the board and thus it will be a split pot. Hence, you cannot have three pair in poker and the best two pair will play.
Beyond hand rankings
The rules of poker and poker hand rankings are just the beginning for you on your poker journey. One of the core skills in poker is being able to determine whether your hand is strong or weak on a relative scale as opposed to an absolute scale. For example, three of a kind is extremely strong on a board with no flush or straight possibilities but very weak on a board with 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight (e.g. T♥9♥8♥7♥ – any heart or J or 6 beats three of a kind).
One key point to note is that in poker all suits are of the same value. An Ace high flush of hearts is the same value as an Ace high flush of spades.
The first step to this is remembering if a flush beats a straight, or whether a straight flush beats quads; the next stage is figuring out your hand's relative strength based on how your opponent is playing, his tendencies and most importantly the board texture as noted.
Additionally, we should take into account the following factors:
- How many players are in the pot
- The amount of chips in the pot
- The size of the bets made
If you can understand the poker hand rankings and relative hand strength you will be ahead of the game; get ready to beat all your friends and opponents at your home games and casinos! Want to accelerate your poker learning? Check out or poker training sites post for the quickest ways to improve your poker game.
If you are new to poker and are unsure of what hands you need to play, check out our starting hand charts over at the poker cheat sheet webpage.
Check out this poker hand ranking video for a more visual format of everything we said:
Make sure you check out the fan favorite posts:
Poker cheat sheet for beginners & Best Poker Books
The rage called Texas Hold'em Poker
One may call it the ‘new kid on the block’ but the Texas Holdem Poker has shot to fame and its popularity has only surged in the current century.
Nothing much has been documented about the invention of Texas hold 'em. The Texas State Legislature officially recognizes Robstown, Texas as the game's birthplace. The genesis of the game, however, dates back to the early 1900s.
Sometimes referred to as the Cadillac of poker, the Texas Hold'em Poker has become the most sought after poker game across North America and Europe.
One can gauge the acceptance and craze for this new member of the poker family from the fact that the unofficial world championship of poker is contested in no limit Texas Hold'em.
Not only has Texas Hold'em Poker toppled the 7 card stud from the numero uno position in terms of popularity, it has also found room in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).
Industry experts and analysts attribute the popularity of the Texas Hold'em Poker heading north to more than one factor. The invention of online poker, the game's appearance in Hollywood as well as in the small screen and television commercials advertising online cardrooms have helped the game in no small measure.
The 2004–05 NHL lockout and the 2003 World Series of Poker championship victory by online qualifier Chris Moneymaker have enabled the Texas Hold'em Poker reach dizzy heights.
The format of the Texas Hold'em wherein the player gets two cards, referred to as the hole cards, and five cards are dealt face up on the board, referred to as the community cards, provides an excellent platform for strategic and mathematical analysis that can be analyzed by tools like the Poker Odds Calculator.
Crandell Addington, a Texan gambler, who along with other card players like Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson, and Amarillo Slim is known to be instrumental in spreading Texas Hold'em to Las Vegas in 1967. He said of the game’s format, They didn't call it Texas hold 'em at the time, they just called it hold 'em... I thought then that if it were to catch on, it would become the game. Draw poker, you bet only twice; hold 'em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man's game
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The hole cards are visible only to the respective players while the community cards are visible to all participants. All these cards can be used to put together a five card poker hand. The player with the highest poker hand is the winner in the Texas Hold'em Poker.
Texas Hold'em Poker follows the hand rankings, beginning from the highest to the lowest as follows: Royal Straight Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and finally One Pair.
The players have a free hand to choose from amongst the cards available and make the best hand. Two hole cards with three community cards or one hole card with four community cards or all five community cards are all acceptable combinations.
The first two players to the left of the dealer post a small and a big blind respectively even before the cards are dealt. These blinds help create a starting pot and set the ball rolling for Texas Hold'em Poker.
After the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt two hole cards. The first betting round takes place, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind.
After the first betting round is finished, three of the five community cards are dealt. These are called the flop. The second betting round ensues, beginning with the first player to the left of the dealer who is still in the hand.
Post the second betting round, the fourth community card, called the Turn (Fourth Street), is dealt. Thereafter, the third round of betting takes place.
The fourth and last betting round takes place after the fifth and last community card called the river (Fifth Street) is dealt.
The rules of the Texas Hold'em Poker entail that if more than one player remains in the hand after the betting rounds are over, there is a showdown.
The structure of the Texas Hold'em Poker is such that the position of a player assumes significant importance. Since the position remains unchanged all the way through the hand, a player that acts, rather reacts, after you will do so all the way to the river.
Needless to say, this can be a great disadvantage for you. Therefore, as a rule, play only very strong hands in early position. On the contrary, if you are in a late position, exploit the advantage to the maximum.
The Texas Hold'em is played not only as the cash or ring game but also as a tournament game. The approach and tactics for these different forms varies extensively.
Before the poker tournaments hit the circuit, the Texas Hold'em was played with real money with players betting actual currency or chips. The game was and is still played with both the no-limit and fixed-limit versions.
Since the size of the bets is restricted in limit games, the ability to bluff gets diminished. At the same time, players can be advised to take more chances in this format since they are not risking all of one's chips in limit poker.
Texas Holdem Poker Dealing Rules
In a tournament, the players gain entry with the help of a 'buy-in'. All players start with an identical value of chips. Play continues till only one player has accumulated all the chips in play.
The amount of chips one has, the amount of chips others have, at what stage is the tournament and the playing styles of one's opponents are some of the factors that have to be considered while devising one’s strategy for the Texas Hold'em poker tournament.
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