Texas Hold’em

Two hole cards, five on the board, all in. 2–8 players.

Also known as Texas Holdem, Hold’em, and Holdem Poker.

Who To Play With

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How to play Texas Hold’em

  1. 1Everyone gets two private cards. Five shared cards are dealt face up in the middle: three (the flop), then one (the turn), then one more (the river).
  2. 2The two players after the dealer post the small and big blinds before any cards are seen. There's a round of betting before the flop and after each new shared card.
  3. 3Heads-up (just two players left), the dealer posts the small blind and acts first before the flop; after the flop the other player acts first.
  4. 4On your turn, fold, check (if nobody has bet), call the current bet, or bet/raise. Raises must be at least as big as the last bet or raise. You can go all in at any time.
  5. 5Make the best five-card hand from your two cards and the five on the board, in any combination. If everyone else folds, you win without showing.
  6. 6This is no-limit: you may bet any amount up to all your chips.
  7. 7Play chips only — never real money. Everyone starts with 1000 chips; run out and you're out of the game.
  8. 8To keep games a sensible length, the stakes rise every 5 hands and the game ends after 50 hands (or as soon as one player has every chip). Most chips wins.
  9. 9If you're all in, you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in; the rest goes to side pots that the others play for.
  10. 10At a showdown everyone still in shows their hand. Equal hands split the pot.
  11. 11Hands rank, high to low: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Aces are high, but A-2-3-4-5 counts as the lowest straight.

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