In Texas Holdem, each player is dealt two private hole cards and shares five community cards dealt in the middle. You make your best five-card hand from any of those seven cards. Play runs across four betting rounds, preflop, flop, turn and river, and you win either by holding the best hand at showdown or by betting enough that everyone else folds.
The Texas Holdem rules are the easiest way into modern poker: it is the most popular game in the world, and you only ever manage two private cards while five shared cards do the rest. That keeps a hand simple to follow yet deep to master. The blinds, the deal, the four betting rounds and the showdown are the whole sequence, and once you can deal one hand out yourself the rest of our complete guide to poker makes sense.
- Two cards plus a shared board. Each player has two hole cards; five community cards are shared by everyone.
- Four betting rounds. Preflop, flop, turn and river, with more of the board revealed between each.
- Blinds start the pot. The two players left of the button post the small and big blind before any cards are dealt.
- Best five cards win. At showdown you use any mix of your two hole cards and the five community cards.
The goal of Texas Holdem
The aim in Texas Holdem is to win the pot, the chips in the middle of the table. You can do that in one of two ways: by having the best five-card poker hand when the cards are revealed at showdown, or by betting enough that every other player folds before then. Both count equally, and both scoop the whole pot.
The game is played with two to ten players and a standard 52-card deck. Each player is dealt two private cards, called hole cards, and over the course of the hand five shared community cards are dealt face up in the centre. Your final hand is the best five cards you can make from those seven, and the hand rankings that decide the winner are the same as in every other poker game, covered in our guide to poker hand rankings.
The button and the blinds
Before any cards are dealt, two forced bets called blinds seed the pot, so there is always something to play for. A marker called the dealer button sits in front of one player and moves one seat clockwise after every hand, which rotates who posts the blinds and who acts first.
- The button. Marks the nominal dealer. The software or the live dealer deals the cards, but the button still sets the order of play.
- The small blind. Posted by the player immediately left of the button, usually half the big blind.
- The big blind. Posted by the next player left, and it sets the minimum bet for the opening round.
The blinds matter because they define the stakes. A game listed as C$1/C$2 Holdem means a C$1 small blind and a C$2 big blind. Because the blinds rotate, everyone pays their share over time, and no one can simply wait for premium hands without cost.
The four betting rounds explained
A hand of Texas Holdem is divided into four betting rounds. Between the rounds, more community cards are revealed, so players get more information as the hand develops. On each round the surviving players can check, bet, call, raise or fold, and the round ends once everyone has matched the largest bet or folded.
| Round | Community cards | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | None yet | Bet on your two hole cards. Action starts left of the big blind. |
| Flop | First three dealt | Three shared cards appear. A new betting round begins. |
| Turn | Fourth dealt | A fourth shared card is added, followed by more betting. |
| River | Fifth dealt | The final shared card lands, then the last betting round. |
After the river betting is done, any players still in the hand reach the showdown. One detail you will see at live dealer tables but not at RNG ones: before the flop, turn and river, the dealer discards the top card of the deck face down. This is the burn card, used so no one can gain an edge from a marked or glimpsed top card.
Texas Holdem hand walkthrough
The quickest way to understand the flow is to watch a hand unfold. Step through the stages below to see your hole cards, then the flop, turn and river appear, with a note on whose action it is and what is happening at each point.
Why position matters in Texas Holdem
Position, meaning where you sit relative to the button, is one of the most important ideas in Holdem. Players who act later in a betting round have seen what everyone before them did, which is valuable information. Acting last is a real advantage, and acting first is a disadvantage, so the same two cards can be worth playing in one seat and worth folding in another.
- Early position. The seats just left of the big blind act first after the flop. You have the least information, so play tighter here.
- Late position. The button and the seat before it act last. This is the best place to be, since you see everyone else first.
- The blinds. They act last preflop but first after the flop, which makes them a tricky spot to play from.
Understanding position feeds directly into which starting hands to play and when, which sits alongside the odds and the maths of the game in our guide to poker odds and pot odds.
No-limit, pot-limit and fixed-limit
Texas Holdem comes in three betting formats, which change how much you can wager but not the underlying rules of the deal. The overwhelming favourite today is No-Limit, the format used in most televised games and online tables.
- No-Limit Holdem. You can bet any amount up to all your chips at any time. The most popular and the most aggressive.
- Pot-Limit Holdem. The most you can bet is the current size of the pot. Common in Omaha, less so in Holdem.
- Fixed-Limit Holdem. Bets and raises come in set increments, a smaller one for the first two rounds and a larger one for the last two.
Whichever format you play, the sequence of blinds, hole cards and four betting rounds stays exactly the same. Only the sizing of the bets changes.
Playing Texas Holdem in Canada
Online is the easiest place for Canadians to learn Holdem, with play-money tables to practise the sequence and low-stakes games when you are ready for real chips. Live dealer tables stream a real croupier dealing the flop, turn and river, giving you the feel of a casino game while you get the rules down. Start small, watch a few hands go to showdown, and the flow becomes second nature. In the regulated markets, AGCO-registered Ontario casinos and AGLC-registered Alberta casinos list which Holdem tables they carry, so you can check for a play-money or low-stakes option before you sign up.
