In Texas Hold’em, every player gets two private cards, five shared cards are dealt face up in stages, and the best five-card hand made from those seven cards wins the pot. There are four rounds of betting: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn and after the river. That is the whole game; the rest is detail.
This guide follows the rules in Pagat’s Texas Hold’em page and adds the probabilities we calculated ourselves. Poker is played against other players, so the cost of a game is the stake you put at risk.
How do you play Texas Hold’em step by step?
A hand of Texas Hold’em runs in six steps: post the blinds, deal two hole cards, bet, deal the flop, turn and river with betting after each, then show hands. The player with the best five-card hand from the seven available cards takes the pot, unless everyone else folded first.
Read more: Teen Patti: Rules, Hand Rankings and Variants
- Blinds. There is no ante. The player to the dealer’s left posts a small blind, and the next player to the left posts a big blind. The big blind is the minimum bet, and the small blind is usually half of it.
- Hole cards. Each player receives two private cards, called hole cards or pocket cards.
- Pre-flop betting. Action starts with the player to the left of the big blind. The big blind acts last and may raise even if everyone has only called.
- The flop. The dealer burns one card, then deals three community cards face up. A second betting round follows.
- The turn. One more community card is dealt face up (the fourth street), followed by betting.
- The river. A final community card is dealt (the fifth street), followed by the last betting round and then the showdown.
The dealer burns one card before each stage. A burn card is a card discarded unseen to guard against marked cards.
Players must show both hole cards to win a pot at showdown, and each player makes the best five-card hand from the seven available. If you want to check which hand beats which, use our guide to poker hand rankings, which follows the standard ranking on Pagat.
What are the blinds and the dealer button?
The blinds are forced bets that start the pot, and they move one seat clockwise after each hand. A marker called the dealer button shows who is the dealer. The small blind sits to its left, then the big blind. Without blinds there would be nothing to win, so players could fold forever.
Blinds rotate so every player pays them in turn. Pagat notes one special case: in heads-up play, with only two players, the dealer posts the small blind.
| Position | Who it is | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Dealer | Holds the button | Acts last after the flop |
| Small blind | Left of the dealer | Posts about half a big blind |
| Big blind | Left of the small blind | Posts the minimum bet, acts last pre-flop |
| First to act pre-flop | Left of the big blind | Calls, raises or folds |
After the flop, each betting round starts with the first active player to the left of the dealer. Acting last is an advantage, because you have seen what everyone else did.
What are the Texas Hold’em betting rounds?
There are four betting rounds: pre-flop, flop, turn and river. In each, players check, bet, call, raise or fold in clockwise order. A round ends when all active players have matched the last bet, or when only one player is left.
In a limit game, a round with more than two active players is limited to one bet plus three raises, and sometimes four, according to Pagat. In a no-limit game you can bet any amount up to your full stack, and in pot-limit the maximum bet is the size of the pot. Our guide on how to play poker explains each action in detail.
Every player who does not fold gets to see the next card, so the pot grows as cards are revealed.
How do you make the best hand in Texas Hold’em?
You make your best five-card hand from any five of your seven cards: both hole cards, one of them, or none. If the five community cards make your best hand, you are playing the board. If another player cannot beat the board, the pot is split.
Three examples show how this works:
- Using both hole cards: you hold A-A, the board shows A-7-7-2-K. Your best hand is a full house, aces full of sevens.
- Using one hole card: you hold K-3, the board shows K-Q-Q-9-5. You have two pair, kings and queens, with a 9 kicker from the board.
- Playing the board: the board shows 10-J-Q-K-A with no more than two cards of any suit. Every player has the same ace-high straight, and no flush is possible, so the pot is split among everyone still in.
Kickers matter more than beginners expect. With seven cards in play, two players often hold the same pair, and the highest leftover card decides.
What are the odds in Texas Hold’em?
Your two hole cards fall into one of 1,326 combinations, and about 5.9% of hands are pocket pairs. These numbers are our own calculations from the 52-card deck, and the conditions are stated in each table. They show how rare strong starting hands are.
| Starting hand | Combinations | Chance of being dealt |
|---|---|---|
| Any pocket pair (such as 7-7) | 78 | 5.88% |
| A specific pocket pair (such as A-A) | 6 | 0.45% |
| Two suited cards (any ranks) | 312 | 23.53% |
| Any ace and king (A-K), suited or not | 16 | 1.21% |
| Total starting hands | 1,326 | 100% |
After the flop, 47 cards are unseen from your point of view. If you are drawing to a hand, the chance of completing it depends on your outs, the cards that help you.
| Draw | Outs | Chance on the next card | Chance by the river (two cards to come) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inside straight draw (needs one rank) | 4 | 8.5% | 16.5% |
| Open-ended straight draw | 8 | 17.0% | 31.5% |
| Flush draw (four to a flush) | 9 | 19.1% | 35.0% |
| Flush draw plus open-ended straight draw | 15 | 31.9% | 54.1% |
Worked example: you hold the 9 and 10 of hearts and the flop shows 2 of hearts, 6 of hearts, K of clubs. Four hearts give you 9 outs among 47 unseen cards. The chance of missing both the turn and river is 38/47 x 37/46 = 65.0%, so you complete the flush 35.0% of the time. More than two out of three times, the flush does not arrive.
The chance of flopping a set when you hold a pocket pair is about 11.8%. Because most hands miss most flops, the way to avoid losing a lot is to fold weak hands early.
What mistakes do Hold’em beginners make?
The classic mistakes are playing too many starting hands, forgetting about position, and chasing draws that do not pay. Each is explained by the numbers above: strong hands are rare, so most hands deserve a fold.
- Playing every hand. Only 5.9% of hands are pocket pairs, and the best starting hands are rarer still.
- Ignoring position. The player who acts last has the most information. Acting early means betting blind to what others will do.
- Chasing a draw that rarely arrives. A flush draw completes 35% of the time by the river, which means it fails 65% of the time.
- Forgetting kickers. Holding A-3 when the board pairs an ace gives you a weak kicker. Another player with A-K beats you.
- Showing cards early. Revealing your hole cards before the showdown gives away information.
- Stakes too high. Bet only what you can afford to lose.
What does playing Texas Hold’em cost?
For money, the cost is your buy-in, the chips you start with, plus any venue fee. A card room usually takes a small cut of each pot, called rake, or charges an entry fee in tournaments. In a home game among friends nobody takes a cut, so winnings come straight from other players.
Losing sessions are normal, even for experienced players, so set a loss limit before you start. Our guide to setting a gambling budget and time limit shows how, the Safer play toolkit lists tools, and the Get help page is there if gambling is becoming a problem.
What should you try next?
Play a few hands with matchsticks or chips, calling out the stage as you go: blinds, hole cards, flop, turn, river, showdown. After each hand, name each player’s best five-card hand and who won.
When the flow feels natural, read the explainer on probability and odds in plain language to understand where outs and draw percentages come from.