Texas Hold'em
Also known as: Hold'em, Texas Hold'em Poker
Quick Rules
- Each player gets 2 private "hole" cards; 5 shared community cards are dealt face up over the hand.
- Betting happens in 4 rounds: pre-flop (after hole cards), the flop (3 community cards), the turn (1 more), and the river (1 more).
- Make your best 5-card hand from any combination of your 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards.
- You can check, bet, call, raise, or fold on each betting round.
- Best hand at showdown wins the pot - or, if everyone else folds, the last player standing wins without a showdown.
How to Play (Quick Overview)
- 1
Two players post forced bets (the small and big blind); every other player antes nothing at this stage.
- 2
Deal 2 hole cards face down to each player, then hold a betting round starting left of the big blind.
- 3
Deal 3 community cards face up in the middle ("the flop"), then hold another betting round starting left of the dealer.
- 4
Deal a 4th community card ("the turn"), followed by another betting round.
- 5
Deal a 5th and final community card ("the river"), followed by the last betting round.
- 6
If more than one player remains, reveal hands at showdown; the best 5-card hand made from any combination of hole and community cards wins the pot.
Objective
Win chips, either by having the best hand at showdown or by betting aggressively enough that everyone else folds before the cards are even revealed.
Setup
Choose a dealer (marked with a “dealer button” that rotates clockwise each hand). The two players to the dealer’s left post forced bets before any cards are dealt: the “small blind” and, next to them, the “big blind” (usually double the small blind). Shuffle a standard 52-card deck.
How to Play
Each player is dealt 2 private cards face down - their “hole cards,” seen by no one else. A round of betting follows, starting with the player left of the big blind.
The dealer then deals 3 community cards face up in the center of the table - “the flop” - shared by every remaining player. Another betting round follows, this time starting with the first active player left of the dealer button.
A 4th community card is dealt (“the turn”), followed by another betting round. A 5th and final community card is dealt (“the river”), followed by the last betting round.
On each betting round, when it’s your turn you may:
- Check: pass the action without betting (only if no one has bet yet this round).
- Bet: put chips into the pot.
- Call: match the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Raise: increase the size of the current bet.
- Fold: discard your hand and forfeit any claim to the pot.
If only one player remains after any betting round (everyone else folded), that player wins the pot immediately without revealing their cards. If two or more players are still in after the river’s betting round, it’s a showdown.
Scoring
There’s no ongoing point score - players win or lose chips hand by hand. At showdown, each remaining player makes the best possible 5-card poker hand using any combination of their 2 hole cards and the 5 community cards. Standard poker hand rankings apply, from high card up to royal flush; the highest- ranked hand takes the pot. Identical hand ranks split the pot.
Winning
The winner of each hand is whoever holds the pot at the end - either the last player left after everyone else folds, or the best hand at showdown. A full session or tournament typically ends when one player holds all the chips, or when an agreed time or blind level is reached.
Variations
- Omaha: each player gets 4 hole cards instead of 2, and must use exactly 2 of them (no more, no fewer) with 3 community cards to make their hand.
- Tournament vs. cash game: tournaments use chips with no cash value and rising blinds until one player has everything; cash games use real-value chips with no forced end and blinds that stay fixed.
- Short-deck Hold’em: removes cards 2 through 5 from the deck, changing some hand rankings (a flush beats a full house in most short-deck rule sets).
History
Texas Hold’em is believed to have originated in Robstown, Texas, in the early 20th century, before spreading to Dallas and eventually Las Vegas by the 1960s, where it was introduced at the Golden Nugget casino. It stayed a relatively niche poker variant compared to other forms until Benny and Jack Binion added it to the World Series of Poker in the 1970s, setting it on the path to becoming the dominant poker variant played worldwide today.
Fun Fact
The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, Chris Moneymaker, qualified through a $39 online satellite tournament and went on to win the $2.5 million top prize - an event widely credited with triggering the global “poker boom” of the mid-2000s, as amateur players everywhere realized they too could qualify for a seat at the table online.