How to play Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em gives you two private cards and a shared board. You decide whether to stay in as more cards appear. Start by learning the rhythm of one hand; the terminology becomes easier once you see when each decision happens.

The goal: your best five cards

Your two private cards are called hole cards. The five cards eventually dealt face up in the middle are community cards, also called the board. Everyone still in the hand can use them.

Build the strongest five-card hand from those seven cards. You may use both hole cards, just one, or neither. You never compare six or seven cards. If the board makes your best hand, you are “playing the board”. Keep our hand rankings guidenearby while practising.

Before the deal: button and blinds

A marker called the dealer button identifies the dealer position. It normally moves one seat clockwise after each hand, so players take turns in different positions. With three or more players, the next seat clockwise posts the small blind; the following seat posts the big blind. These compulsory bets start the pot: the chips everyone is competing for. The big blind is usually twice the small blind.

Each player receives two cards face down. Your stack is the chips you have available to play.

Follow one hand

1. Pre-flop. Look at your hole cards. At a table with three or more players, the first decision belongs to the seat clockwise from the big blind. Play continues clockwise. The big blind already counts as a bet, so entering the hand usually means calling or raising it. The big blind may check if nobody has raised.
2. Flop. Three community cards appear together. Another betting round begins with the first player still in the hand clockwise from the button.
3. Turn. A fourth community card is revealed. Players take another turn to act, starting in the same position as on the flop.
4. River. The fifth and last community card arrives. There is one final betting round. No more cards are coming, so evaluate the hand you have now.
5. Showdown. If at least two players remain after betting finishes, their hands are compared. The best five-card hand wins. Equal hands share the pot; suits do not decide a tie.

A hand can end at any stage: when everyone except one player folds, that player wins without needing to show their cards. An all-in player stays in the hand even if they cannot match later bets; the dealer separates any side pots.

With only two players, known as heads-up, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop. The big blind acts first on the flop, turn and river.

Your five options

• Fold: Give up your cards and your chance to win this hand.
• Check: Stay in without adding chips, when you have no outstanding bet to call.
• Bet: Put chips forward when no bet has been made on this round.
• Call: Add enough chips to match the current bet. If the bet is six chips and you have already put in two this round, add four.
• Raise: Increase the current bet. Other players must respond to the new amount.

Betting continues until every remaining player has responded and matched the bet, except players who are all-in. Ask the dealer for the minimum raise if you are unsure.

Make your first game comfortable

Tell the host you are learning. Confirm the game, chip values and house rules before you start. Wait for your turn, keep your cards visible but private, and say your action clearly before moving chips. Avoid commenting on another player’s cards during a live hand. At showdown, let the dealer read the cards before releasing them.

Practise a few hands with chips that have no cash value. Once the sequence feels familiar,learn what beats what and try reading the whole board.