Texas Holdem Rules And Hands
The PDF rules of poker are provided below for Texas Hold'em, the most popular poker variant.
- Texas Holdem Poker Rules And Hands
- Texas Holdem Rules Highest Hand
- Texas Holdem Rules Tie Hand
- Texas Holdem Poker Rules Hands
To get the PDF printable version of this post click on of the unlock buttons below:
An Example Hand of Texas Holdem – Game Play & Rules. Here is an example hand of Texas Holdem. This should give you an idea as to the rules and how the game plays. The Blinds & Hole Cards. Before the cards are dealt the blinds are posted. The small blind posts. Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving. The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our Other notes: The dealer will often take one card off the top of the deck before turning over the flop, turn and river for a total of three cards.
Other popular game variants include Pot Limit Omaha and 5card draw.
Table Of Contents
- Texas Hold'em Rules
- Poker hand Ranking System
Texas Hold'em Rules
In Texas hold’em each player is dealt two cards called their ‘hole’ cards. Hole cards can only be seen and used by one person. The dealer button (denoted by a circular disc) is allocated before hands are dealt to allow for the positioning of the forced bets: small blind and big blind, and also to determine who will act first and last in the hand.
There are a total of four betting rounds: preflop, the flop, the turn and the river. The betting rounds will be detailed further on.
If you have a dedicated dealer (such as at a casino), the button will still move around the table so everybody will eventually have to pay the blinds. The button doesn't show who is dealing in a casino; the button shows who is seated the best position at the table and where the blinds are located.
If you just sat down (out of turn) you will have to pay the blinds in order get dealt a hand; otherwise, you can wait until the blinds come around to your seat. You should wait for the blinds as paying twice is unprofitable.
The size of the blinds depends on the limit; for example, a 1/2 No Limit Hold'em game would have a big blind of $2 and a small blind of 1$. The small blind and big blind are located to the left of the button.
This is shown in the case of a 6 handed game below:
The blinds are an important part of the rules of poker. These forced bets which give players an incentive to play; in other words ‘spice up' the game. Without the blinds, there would be no penalty for waiting and only playing strong hands. The only hand worth playing would be two aces!
Antes are another form of forced bets which are often used the increase the action in some game types such as tournaments and deep stacked cash games.
Pre-flop – The First Betting Round of Hold'em
The first round of betting takes places starting at the position to the left of the big blind (early position or EP). Each player has the following options:
Raise: you can raise the current bet to increase the stakes of the game. If someone has raised before you, you can still raise again – this is call a reraise. The minimum size you can raise is typically chosen to be twice that of the last bet or raise.
Call: When you do not want to raise the stakes but want to continue with your hand you can match the current bet.
Fold: If you feel your hand is not worth playing any further you can fold your hand and not commit any more bets.
Check: If there is no bet placed you can check in order to see the next card. This isn't applicable to preflop. The blinds are the first bet preflop which must be matched with a call or raised, if a player wishes to continue.
Players must act in sequence until all bets are settled. The button must always act last in the first sequence. This first round of betting called ‘pre-flop’ occurs before the flop is dealt.
The Flop – The Second Betting Round
The second round of betting takes places after the three community (shared) cards called the flop are dealt. The action will be to the first player to the left of the dealer. This is opposed to the action starting to the left of the big blind during the preflop betting round.
The first player to act has the option to check bet or fold; although you should not fold when you can check for free. The betting rounds after the flop is dealt is collectively known as ‘post-flop’.
The Turn – The Third Betting Round
The third round of betting occurs after the second community card has been dealt. This card is called the turn. Again, the action starts with the active player to the left of the dealer.
The River and Showdown – The Fourth Betting Round
The fourth and final round of betting occurs when the dealer turns over the river card. The hand ends with the showdown of hands or if there is only one live hand remaining (the other player(s) have folded).
At showdown, the player with the best five card combination from their hole cards and the community cards wins the final pot. Split pots occur when both players have the same best five cards.
After each hand, the button moves to the left of the dealer. This means everyone will have to play the blinds at some point.
Texas hold'em rules are quite simple; however the strategies involved in winning are ever evolving.
The rules of Texas Hold'em are just the beginning so head to our home page if you want to improve your poker game!
Other notes:
Texas Holdem Poker Rules And Hands
home page if you want to improve your poker game!
home page if you want to improve your poker game!
Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!
The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!
- Royal Flush (649,739:1)
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.
- Straight flush (72,192:1)
Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.
- Four of a kind (4,164:1)
Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads’.
- Full House (693:1)
Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!
- Flush (508:1)
Five cards all of the same suit.
- Straight (254:1)
Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.
- Three of a kind (46:1)
Three cards of the same value.
- Two pair (20 : 1)
Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!
- One pair (1.37:1)
Two cards of the same value.
- High card
The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.
Kickers
A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is A♥K♦5♠ 7♠ 2♦ both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q♣ is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.
Split pots
Split pots occur when both players get to showdown and have the same hand rank. The pot is divided up equally between each of the players.
To take an example, if player A has K♠J♥ and player B has K♣Q♠ on a A♥K♦5♠5♣2♠ board both players will have two pair and ace kicker as their best hand (A, K, K, 5, 5). Therefore the pot will be split between the two players.
Alternatively, if the neither player can improve the hand on the board it will also be a split pot. If the board is A♥K♦5♠5♣K♠ and player A has Q♠J♣ and player B has 4♣4♠ then both players will be playing the board and thus it will be a split pot. Hence, you cannot have three pair in poker and the best two pair will play.
Beyond hand rankings
The rules of poker and poker hand rankings are just the beginning for you on your poker journey. One of the core skills in poker is being able to determine whether your hand is strong or weak on a relative scale as opposed to an absolute scale. For example, three of a kind is extremely strong on a board with no flush or straight possibilities but very weak on a board with 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight (e.g. T♥9♥8♥7♥ – any heart or J or 6 beats three of a kind).
One key point to note is that in poker all suits are of the same value. An Ace high flush of hearts is the same value as an Ace high flush of spades.
The first step to this is remembering if a flush beats a straight, or whether a straight flush beats quads; the next stage is figuring out your hand's relative strength based on how your opponent is playing, his tendencies and most importantly the board texture as noted.
Additionally, we should take into account the following factors:
- How many players are in the pot
- The amount of chips in the pot
- The size of the bets made
If you can understand the poker hand rankings and relative hand strength you will be ahead of the game; get ready to beat all your friends and opponents at your home games and casinos! Want to accelerate your poker learning? Check out or poker training sites post for the quickest ways to improve your poker game.
If you are new to poker and are unsure of what hands you need to play, check out our starting hand charts over at the poker cheat sheet webpage.
Check out this poker hand ranking video for a more visual format of everything we said:
Make sure you check out the fan favorite posts:
Poker cheat sheet for beginners & Best Poker Books
The most popular poker variation across the globe, Texas Hold’em is essentially the only poker game most poker players will ever learn.
This is because all of the major poker tournaments worldwide (World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour, etc.) feature the no-limit variation of Texas Hold’em.
Easy to learn, but difficult to master is the phrase that aptly describes this variation of poker. Thanks to its simple rules, uncomplicated gameplay and easy-to-remember hand rankings, Texas Hold’em has stayed top of the popularity charts when it comes to poker game variations.
Nevertheless, the game isn’t as easy to master as it’s to learn!
The variety of possible situations & combinations is so immense in Texas Hold’em that it can be a hugely complex game when you compete with skilled players in tournaments.
If you are a beginner looking to learn Texas Hold’em, then kickstarting your journey by learning the basic rules of the game is the way to go. These rules are easy to grasp and play a vital role in comprehending the gameplay and the game’s fundamental strategy.
Texas Hold’em Poker Rules
Getting to the rules of the game, each player is dealt two hole cards that only belong to them.
Once that is done, five community cards are gradually dealt face-up over the course of betting rounds to form the ‘board’. Players use these shared community cards in combination with their two hole cards to form the highest-ranked possible five-card poker hand
There are no restrictions whatsoever with regards to the combination of the five-card poker hand, with players able to choose any of the five cards from the seven cards available. There is no compulsion regarding the usage of the hole cards. These are the basic Texas Hold’em poker rules.
For detailed info regarding poker rules, poker hand rankings, basic poker terms and the working of a poker game, check out this highly informative blog: https://www.gaming360.in/poker/how-to-play-poker
Texas Hold’em Poker Hand Ranking
- Royal Flush- All cards of an identical suit in a sequence of A♦-K♦-Q♦-J♦-10♦
- Straight Flush- All cards of an identical suit in a sequence of 6♦ 5♦ 4♦ 3♦ 2♦
- Four of a kind- Four of a kind hand includes four cards of the same ranking but they are not from the same suit, like 7♦ 7♣ 7♠ 7♥ 10♣
- Full House- It consists of two cards of the same ranking and other three cards of the same ranking in the hand, like 9♦ 9♣ 9♠ 7♥ 7♦
- Flush- Flush comprises five cards all of the same suit but not in a row, such as Q♦ J♦ 9♦ 6♦ 3♦
- Straight- The Straight includes five cards in a row but not from the same suit, such as J♣ 10♦ 9♥ 8♣ 7♠
- Three of a Kind- Three of a kind consists of three cards of the same ranking and two non-paired cards in a hand, like K♥ K♠ K♦ 3♣ 5♠
- Two Pair- Two Pair comprises two cards which are of the same rank and two cards of another rank in a hand, like 10♦ 10♣ 5♠ 5♣ 2♥
- Pair- One pair includes two cards of the same rank in a hand, like 7♦ 7♥ 3♥ 4♠ Q♣
- High Card- High card is the lowest-ranked hand in poker. It consists of any 5 cards, such as K♣ J♠ 8♣ 4♦ 2♥
Players build their hands by picking the five best cards from the seven cards (their two opening cards and the five community cards).
Coming to the variations of Texas Hold’em, there are four of them which are differentiated from each other by their betting limits:
Texas Holdem Rules Highest Hand
Limit Texas Hold’em
Speaking of the first variation, Limit Texas Hold’em has a pre-decided betting limit on each round of betting.
Hence, pre-flop & on the flop, all bets & raises are of the identical amount as the big blind. The size of all bets & raises increases 2x on the turn & the river. Moreover, a maximum of four bets are permitted to each player during every betting round. This comprises a bet, raise, re-raise & cap (final raise).
No Limit Texas Hold’em
The most popular Texas Hold’em variation which is used in all major tournaments, the No Limit Texas Hold’em allows players to bet the amount of their choice, upto all of their chips on the table. Also, there is no ‘cap’ on the number of raises permitted.
The minimum bet is identical to the size of the big blind while the minimum raise amount is required to be equal to the prior bet or raise in the same round.
Pot Limit Texas Hold’em
In Pot Limit Texas Hold’em, a player is allowed to bet any particular amount, upto the size of the pot. The minimum bet is equal to the size of the big blind and the minimum raise should be equal to the prior bet/raise in the same round.
The maximum raise is equivalent to the size of the pot, which comprises the entirety of the active pot in addition to all bets on the table and the amount the active player needs to first call before raising.
Similar to No Limit Texas Hold’em, there is no ‘cap’ whatsoever on the number of raises permitted.
Mixed Texas Hold’em
As the name suggests, Mixed Texas Hold’em consists of the game switching between rounds of Limit Hold’em & No Limit Hold’em.
Texas Holdem Rules Tie Hand
The blinds are customarily increased when the game switches from No Limit to Limit, to make sure consistency is maintained in the average pot size in each game. The betting rules for each round are the same as the rules for the particular variation active in that round.
Steps to Play Texas Hold’em Poker
1) For deciding which player begins the game, a single card is dealt face up to each player; the player with the highest-ranked card becomes the first dealer. The dealer button rotates in a clockwise manner after each hand.
2) Each player at the poker table is dealt two cards by the first dealer; these cards are known as hole cards or pocket cards.
3) The first betting round takes place. Want to know how the betting rounds work? Check out our all-inclusive blog on ‘How to Play Poker in 2021’
4) Three community cards are dealt face up, known as the Flop.
5) The second betting round takes place.
6) The fourth community card is dealt face up, known as the Turn.
7) The third betting round takes place.
8) The fifth community card is dealt face up, known as the River.
Texas Holdem Poker Rules Hands
9) The fourth and final betting round takes place.
10) If there is more than one player remaining in the hand, the Showdown takes place wherein starting to the left of the dealer, all players reveal their cards face up.
11) The highest-ranked poker hand wins the pot.