How to Play Texas Hold'em
Two players post blinds, everyone gets two private cards, and there is a round of betting. Three shared cards come next (the flop), then a fourth (the turn) and a fifth (the river), each followed by betting. Players still in at the end show down, and the best five-card hand from each player's two cards and the five shared ones wins. In no-limit, any bet can be as big as your whole stack.
The rules, step by step
- 1Post the blindsThe two players to the left of the dealer button put in the small and big blinds before the cards are dealt. They start at 10 and 20 and double every ten hands.
- 2Take two cardsEveryone is dealt two cards face down, one at a time, starting with the player to the left of the button. Nobody else sees yours.
- 3Bet before the flopStarting left of the big blind, each player folds, calls or raises. It is no-limit: a raise can be anything up to your whole stack, and must be at least as big as the last bet or raise.
- 4Flop, turn and riverThree shared cards are turned up, then a fourth, then a fifth, each followed by a round of betting that starts with the first player still in to the left of the button.
- 5Show downPlayers still in at the end show their cards. The best five of each player's seven wins; equal hands split the pot, with an odd chip to the first of them left of the button.
- 6Last player with chips winsRun out of chips and you are out. Take every chip at the table and you win the tournament — and these are play chips, so nothing is ever won or lost.
Try it — the rules above, running
A no-limit sit-and-go: you against five computer players, 1,500 play chips each, blinds 10/20 doubling every 10 hands. Take every chip to win. Fold, Check/Call and Raise are under the table; the slider and the ½ pot, pot and all-in buttons set the raise. The chips are play chips — no money, nothing to buy. Opponents (1 to 5) are in the ⋯ menu.
Your statistics · 5 opponents
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
- Best finish
- —
- Fewest hands
- —
One result per tournament: a win means taking every chip. Leaving a tournament early counts as a loss. Kept in this browser only.
Keyboard
- F
- Fold
- C
- Check, or call
- R
- Bet or raise the amount on the slider
- ← →
- Make the raise smaller or bigger
- Enter
- Deal the next hand when one is over
- L
- Show or hide the hand log
- N
- New tournament
What happens in a hand of Texas Hold'em, step by step?
- 1The blindsThe player left of the button posts the small blind, the next player the big blind. A player short of a blind puts in what they have and is all-in.
- 2The dealTwo cards each, face down, one at a time round the table starting left of the button.
- 3Preflop bettingThe player left of the big blind acts first. The big blind acts last, and may check or raise if everyone has only called.
- 4The flopThe top card is burned and three cards are turned face up. Betting starts with the first player still in left of the button.
- 5The turn and the riverA card is burned and one turned up, twice, each with a round of betting in the same order.
- 6ShowdownThe remaining players show their hands. The best five cards from each player's seven win the pot, or their share of it.
How does betting work in no-limit hold'em?
When nobody has bet you may check or bet; once somebody has, you may fold, call or raise. The smallest opening bet is the big blind and the smallest raise is the size of the last bet or raise in the same round — before the flop the big blind counts as the bet, so at 10/20 the minimum raise is to 40. The largest is everything you have. A round ends when everyone still in has acted and matched the biggest bet.
An all-in for less than a full raise does not reopen the betting. If Ada bets 100 and Bruno calls, and then Cleo moves all-in for 150 — only 50 more, less than the 100 a full raise would need — Ada and Bruno may call the extra 50 or fold, but neither may raise again. A player who had not acted yet still can, to at least 250.
What changes when only two players are left?
Heads-up, the button posts the small blind and the other player the big blind. The button acts first before the flop and last on the flop, turn and river, and the cards are dealt starting with the big blind so the button gets the last one. When a game first goes heads-up the button is placed so that nobody pays the big blind two hands running.
How do you win more often?
- Play fewer hands from early seatsThe more players still to act behind you, the more likely one of them holds something better — and the more often you will play the rest of the hand out of position. Open with your best hands first to act, and widen your range as you get closer to the button.
- Work out the pot odds before you callCalling 50 into a pot of 150 costs a quarter of what you would then win, so you need to win more than one time in four. A flush draw after the flop, with two cards to come, gets there about 35% of the time — comfortably enough to call that bet, and only just enough against a bet the size of the pot, which needs one time in three.
- Use the buttonActing last lets you see what everyone else does before you decide, on every street after the flop. Steal the blinds from the button with hands you would fold from the first seat, and check behind when a free card helps you.
- Short-stacked, move all-in or foldWith ten or so big blinds left there is no room to raise and then fold to a re-raise, so a raise commits you anyway. Pushing all-in makes the others decide for their tournament; the computer players here switch to exactly that at 12 big blinds.
- Read the size of a betA small bet is often a probe or a draw; a bet the size of the pot, or a raise, usually means a real hand. The computer players weigh your bets the same way, which is also why a well-timed big bluff can work on them.
Common questions about texas hold'em
- Who acts first in heads-up Texas Hold'em?
- The button. With two players the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, then last on every later street.
- What is the minimum raise in no-limit hold'em?
- The size of the previous bet or raise in the same betting round. Before the flop the big blind counts as a bet, so with blinds of 10 and 20 the smallest raise is to 40, and a raise to 70 means the next one must be to at least 120.
- How often are you dealt a pocket pair?
- About one hand in seventeen. There are 1,326 possible two-card hands and 78 of them are pairs, which is 5.9% — and any one particular pair, such as two aces, is one hand in 221.
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