How to play Texas Hold'em

Texas Hold’em in one paragraph: you get two private cards, the table shares five public ones, and the best five-card hand made from any combination of the seven wins the pot. Betting happens in four rounds, and you can win without the best hand if everyone else folds first. That’s the whole game. Everything below is detail.

The setup

Each hand, one player holds the dealer button, which moves one seat left every hand. The two players after the button post forced bets — the small blind and big blind — so there’s always something to play for. Everyone gets two face-down cards, called hole cards.

A hand, street by street

1. Pre-flop. Starting with the player after the big blind, everyone chooses: fold, call the big blind, or raise.
2. The flop. Three community cards land face up. Another betting round, starting from the player left of the button.
3. The turn. A fourth community card. Another betting round.
4. The river. The fifth and final card. One last betting round.
5. Showdown. If two or more players are still in, hands are revealed and the best five-card hand takes the pot.

Hand rankings, best to worst

Hand	What it is
Royal flush	A-K-Q-J-10, all one suit
Straight flush	Five in a row, all one suit
Four of a kind	Four cards of the same rank
Full house	Three of a kind plus a pair
Flush	Any five of one suit
Straight	Five in a row, mixed suits
Three of a kind	Three of the same rank
Two pair	Two different pairs
One pair	Two of the same rank
High card	None of the above — best single card plays

Worth memorising before your first session: a flush beats a straight, and a full house beats both.

The actions

• Check — pass without betting (only if nobody has bet yet this round).
• Bet / Raise — put chips in, or increase what’s already there.
• Call — match the current bet and stay in.
• Fold — surrender the hand. You lose what you’ve put in, and nothing more.

Five habits that beat most beginners

1. Play fewer hands. Most starting hands lose money. Folding early and often is not cowardice, whatever this town’s founders would say.
2. Position matters. Acting last is an advantage — you see what everyone else does first. Play more hands from late position, fewer from early.
3. Bet with a reason. Every bet should be doing a job: building a pot you expect to win, or pushing someone off a better hand. If it’s doing neither, check.
4. Watch the players, not just the cards. Who bets big with nothing? Who only raises with the goods? The information is free; collect it.
5. Let the maths make the calls. If the pot offers you more than the odds against your draw, call. If it doesn’t, fold and feel nothing.

Practise where mistakes are free

Reading about poker is like reading about swimming. At some point you get in the water — and PowerSuit’s free Hold’em tables are the shallow end: real opponents, free chips that top up through the day, and no real money anywhere near the table. Download it free and play your first hand tonight.