Texas Hold'em
No-limit Texas Hold'em. Two private cards each, five shared cards in the middle, and four rounds of betting.
Goal
Win the pot, either by making the best five card hand at showdown or by betting enough that everyone else folds.
You do not need the best hand to win a pot. You only need everyone else to give up, or to be ahead when the cards are shown.
Setup
Each player receives two private cards. Two players post forced bets called the small and the big blind. The dealer button moves one seat to the left each hand.
Hand rankings, strongest first
- Straight flush
- Five cards in sequence, all the same suit.
- Four of a kind
- Four cards of the same rank.
- Full house
- Three of a kind plus a pair.
- Flush
- Five cards of the same suit.
- Straight
- Five cards in sequence of mixed suits.
- Three of a kind
- Three cards of the same rank.
- Two pair
- Two separate pairs.
- One pair
- Two cards of the same rank.
- High card
- None of the above. The highest card plays.
Your actions
- Fold
- Give up the hand and any money already in the pot.
- Check
- Pass the action along when there is nothing to call.
- Call
- Match the current bet.
- Bet
- Put money in when nobody has bet yet this round.
- Raise
- Increase an existing bet.
- All in
- Commit your remaining stack.
How a round works
1. Blinds are posted and everyone receives two cards. This is preflop.
2. Three shared cards are dealt face up. This is the .
3. A fourth shared card is dealt. This is the .
4. A fifth shared card is dealt. This is the .
5. Betting happens after each of those steps. If two or more players remain, cards are shown and the best five card hand wins.
How you win
You make the best five card hand using any combination of your two cards and the five shared cards, or everyone else folds.
If the board plays better than your two cards, the pot can be split.
Important terms
- Position
- Where you act in the betting order. Acting last is a real advantage.
- Pot odds
- The price on a call. Calling 60 into a pot of 180 risks 60 to win 240, so you need to be right about 25% of the time.
- Outs
- Cards left in the deck that improve your hand to a likely winner.
- Board texture
- How connected the shared cards are and what hands they make possible.
- Value bet
- A bet you expect to be called by worse hands.
Common mistakes
- Calling because a hand is pretty rather than because the price is right.
- Playing too many hands from early position.
- Betting with no plan for what to do if you get raised.
- Chasing a draw when the are not paying enough for it.
Beginner tips
- Fold more hands than feels natural before the flop.
- Notice who acts after you. That single fact, your , changes how a hand should be played.
- Count the before you call. The number decides more often than the cards do.
- There is rarely one correct answer, but there are plenty of clearly poor ones.
Terms you will hear
- Blind
- A forced bet posted before cards are dealt. The small blind and big blind rotate around the table each hand.
- Pot
- The total of all bets made in the hand. The winner of the hand takes it.
- Pot odds
- The price you are getting on a call. Calling 60 into a pot of 180 means risking 60 to win 240, so you need to win about 25% of the time to break even.
- Position
- Where you act in the betting order. Acting last is a large advantage because you see what everyone else does first.
- Equity
- Your share of the pot based on how often your hand wins from here. A hand with 40% equity in a 200 pot is worth about 80.
- Flop
- The first three community cards, dealt face up after the opening betting round.
- Turn
- The fourth community card.
- River
- The fifth and final community card.
- Board texture
- How connected and coordinated the community cards are. A board with three cards of one suit changes what hands are possible.
- House edge
- The long run share of each wager the house keeps. A 1.06% edge means about one cent per dollar wagered on average.