How to Play Texas Hold’em: A Beginner’s Guide
Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker game in the world, and the basics are easier than they look. This guide shows you how to play Texas Hold’em: the goal, the rounds of betting and the hand rankings, so you can sit down at a table with confidence.
The goal of the game
Each player receives two private cards, called hole cards. Five community cards are dealt face up in the middle. You make the best five-card hand from any combination of your two cards and the five on the table. The best hand at showdown wins the pot, or you win earlier if everyone else folds.
The four betting rounds
- Pre-flop: you look at your two cards and decide whether to play.
- Flop: three community cards are revealed.
- Turn: a fourth community card is added.
- River: the fifth and final community card arrives, followed by the showdown.
Your options on every turn
You can fold (give up the hand), check (pass if nobody has bet), call (match the bet), raise (increase the bet) or go all-in (bet every chip you have).
Poker hand rankings, strongest to weakest
Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.
What is a side pot?
When one player is all-in with fewer chips than the others, the extra bets go into a separate side pot. The all-in player can only win the main pot, while the remaining players compete for the side pot. Good poker software handles this automatically.
Practise for free
The fastest way to learn is to play. Take a seat at our free poker table against bots and try every action with virtual chips. When you want to check a decision, use the Texas Hold’em odds calculator. Read next: what are pot odds in poker.
