Texas Hold'em rules

Key points

• You win by making the best five-card hand at the showdown, or by making everyone else fold.
• You get two hole cards and share five board cards; your hand is the best five of those seven.
• The blinds are forced bets posted by two players before the cards are dealt.
• There are four betting rounds: preflop, flop, turn and river.
• In No-Limit you can bet any amount, up to all of your chips (all-in).

How a hand runs

1. Post the blinds
2. Deal two cards to each player → betting
3. Flop (3 cards) → betting
4. Turn (1 card) → betting
5. River (1 card) → betting
6. Players still in show their cards and compare (showdown)

If everyone else folds along the way, the last player left takes the pot without showing.

Hand rankings

Ten ranks, strongest first. A higher rank always beats a lower one. Suits have no rank. In a card name T is ten (T♠ is the ten of spades). Other notation is in “How to write hands” next.

1. Royal flush: A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ T♠. A to T of one suit
2. Straight flush: 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥. Five in a row, one suit
3. Four of a kind: Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠ 3♦. Four of one rank
4. Full house: 8♠ 8♦ 8♣ K♥ K♠. Three of a kind plus a pair
5. Flush: A♦ J♦ 9♦ 6♦ 2♦. Five of one suit
6. Straight: T♣ 9♦ 8♠ 7♥ 6♣. Five in a row
7. Three of a kind: 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠. Three of one rank
8. Two pair: J♠ J♥ 4♦ 4♣ A♠. Two pairs
9. One pair: T♥ T♠ A♦ 8♣ 3♠. One pair
10. High card: A♣ Q♦ 9♠ 6♥ 3♣. No hand. Compare the highest cards

The ace is the highest card, but in the A-2-3-4-5 straight (the wheel) it plays as a one. Wrapping around, like K-A-2-3-4, is not a straight.

Kickers and ties

Hands of the same rank are compared by the cards that make the hand. If those are equal, compare the remaining cards (the kickers) from the top.

Example. Board K♠ 9♦ 7♣ 4♥ 2♠. X holds A-K and Y holds K-Q.

1. Pick the best five of seven. X has K-K-A-9-7, Y has K-K-Q-9-7. Both are a pair of kings
2. The pair is the same, so compare the remaining cards from the top. The first ones are A and Q
3. A is higher, so X (A-K) wins

Only five cards count. If all five cards are equal, it is a tie and the pot is split (chop).

Example. Board A♠ A♦ K♣ K♥ Q♠. X holds J-J and Y holds T-9.

1. X has three pairs (A, K, J), but two pair uses only the top two (A and K). For the fifth card the board’s Q beats the J. X’s five are A-A-K-K-Q
2. Y’s cards are all lower than the board. Y’s five are the board itself, A-A-K-K-Q
3. The five cards are the same, so it’s a tie

How to write hands

Cards and hands are written in short symbols.

A card is “rank + suit”. Ranks are 2 to 9, T (ten), J, Q, K, A. Suits are ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣. A♥ is the ace of hearts.

Two hole cards are written by rank only, with the suit left out. Write the higher card first, and let the last letter show the suit pattern.

A + means “from here up”. Keep the higher rank fixed and raise the lower rank up to one below the higher one. Pairs go up to aces. A range with a dash includes both ends.

Example. “66+, A2s+, KQo” means every pair from 66 to AA, every suited ace from A2s to AKs, and KQo.

A share such as “about 16%” is the share of all the possible starting hands that fall in that range.

Seats and positions

At a six-handed table (6-max) the seats are named, going clockwise from the button: BTN, SB, BB, UTG, HJ, CO.

The later you act, the more you see before you decide, so later seats are better (position). The best seat is BTN.

Blinds and the button

The blinds are forced bets the SB and BB post before seeing cards.

Example. At a 1/2 table the SB posts 1 and the BB posts 2. There are already 3 in the pot, which gives players a reason to play.

The button moves one seat to the left after every hand. The blinds move with it, so everyone pays each blind once every six hands.

Dealing

Each player gets two hole cards that only they see. The shared cards (the board) are turned over in three steps.

Four betting rounds

There are four betting rounds (preflop, flop, turn, river). A round ends when everyone has put in the same amount or folded.

Action goes clockwise. Only the first player to act changes by round.

• Preflop: UTG → HJ → CO → BTN → SB → BB. The BB acts last
• Flop and later: SB → BB → UTG → HJ → CO → BTN. BTN acts last

Example. If SB and BTN are left on the flop, SB acts first and BTN decides after seeing it.

Actions

On your turn you have six options.

• Fold: give up the hand. Chips already in stay in the pot
• Check: put nothing in and pass. Only when no one has bet
• Call: match the current bet
• Bet: be the first to put chips in on a round
• Raise: put in more than the current bet
• All-in: put in all your chips

Preflop the BB counts as a bet already made, so the first player cannot check. If nobody raises, the BB acts last and may check or raise (the option).

Showdown

If two or more players remain after the river betting, they show their cards and compare (showdown).

You use the best five of seven cards: your two hole cards and the five board cards. You may use both hole cards, one, or none.

Example. Board A♠ K♠ 7♠ 4♦ 2♣, hand Q♠ 3♥. The three board ♠ plus Q♠ make four ♠. That is not five, so there is no flush. The best five are A-K-Q-7-4, high card.

If the five board cards are your best hand, you use the board and neither hole card (play the board).

Preflop names

Preflop raises and calls get different names depending on what happened before them.

Example. Raises on top of raises (bb is one BB).

1. UTG makes it 2.5bb: an Open, since nobody has entered
2. HJ calls 2.5bb. HJ had no chips in yet, so this is a Cold call
3. CO makes it 8bb: a 3-bet. The BB is bet 1, the Open is bet 2, so this is bet 3. A 3-bet after a call is also called a squeeze
4. UTG makes it 20bb: a 4-bet, a raise over the 3-bet

Example. When someone limps.

1. UTG limps: calls the 1bb BB amount without raising
2. HJ limps too. Someone has already limped, so this is an Overlimp
3. BTN makes it 5bb: an Iso-raise, a raise over the limpers

No-limit sizing

No limit means you can bet or raise any amount up to the chips in front of you. Only the minimum is fixed.

• The minimum bet equals the BB
• A raise must add at least as much as the previous increase (min-raise)

Example. Preflop at a 1/2 table (SB 1, BB 2).

1. The last amount is the BB’s 2. UTG raises to 6. The increase is 6 − 2 = 4
2. A re-raise must add at least 4. The minimum is to 6 + 4 = 10

Example. On the flop the pot is 20 and the first player bets 8.

1. There was no bet before, so the increase is from 0 to 8: 8
2. A raise must add at least 8. The minimum is to 8 + 8 = 16

Side pots

An all-in player can only win up to what they put in. Anything beyond that forms a separate pot for the others (a side pot).

Example. A is all-in for 20; B and C each put in 50.

• Main pot: 20 × 3 players = 60. A, B and C play for it
• Side pot: 30 × 2 players = 60. Only B and C play for it

If A has the best hand, A takes the main 60. The side 60 goes to the better of B and C.

An all-in player can win at most the amount they put in × the number of players who put in at least that much.

Short all-ins

An all-in that is less than the last raise does not count as a raise. When the action comes back to players who have already acted, they can only call or fold; they cannot raise again.

Example. BB 2. A raises to 6 (a raise of 4) and B calls. C goes all in for 8 (a raise of 2, short of 4). Back to A and B: each can only call 2 more or fold. A cannot raise again.

Players who have not acted yet can raise as usual.

Sources

• Poker TDA, “Tournament Directors Association Rules” (minimum raise, side pots, short all-in raises)
• Robert Ciaffone, “Robert’s Rules of Poker”