Texas Holdem Poker Rules

Learn Poker with our Texas Holdem poker rules guide.

Texas Holdem is a popular form of Poker played with 2 to 10 players, typically using a standard 52 card deck. Players receive 2 cards face down, known as their hole cards or starting hand, followed by 5 community cards dealt face up.

The hole cards dealt to you are personal to your own hand, only you can use them, whereas, the community cards can be used by all.

Players use any combination of hole cards and/or community cards to make their best possible Poker Hands, comprising of 5 cards total. The idea is to produce a hand as high up the Poker Hand Rankings as you can. There are 4 betting rounds.

Texas Holdem - The Positions

The game of Texas Holdem is divided into 4 sections: pre flop, the flop, the turn and the river.

Here is a typical 10 seater table:



3 positions to note are the dealer, the small blind and the big blind. These 3 positions are moved clockwise after every hand so that each player at the table takes a turn of being the dealer, small blind and big blind.

A small round disc called the dealer button is used to indicate which player is the dealer, the small blind sits directly to the left of the dealer and directly to the right of the big blind.
The small and big blinds are both forced to make fixed pre flop bets; the big blind equates to one minimum bet and the small blind is half the minimum bet; if the blind level was 50/100, the minimum bet would be 100 chips. This is done to ensure there is a financial incentive to play in any hand and thus promotes action.

Pre Flop

Each player is dealt 2 hole cards clockwise and one at a time, starting with the small blind and finishing with the dealer. Once every player has received their 2 hole cards, a round of betting ensues, starting with the player directly to the left of the big blind and moving clockwise.

The Flop

The first 3 community cards are dealt, this is called the flop. Another round of betting occurs, this time starting with the first remaining player to the left of the button. All subsequent betting rounds within the hand start with the first remaining player to the left of the button and action moves around clockwise.

The Turn

The 4th community card is revealed on the turn, as promised another round of betting using the same format as the flop occurs.

The River

The final community card is dealt on the river, there is one last round of betting before all remaining players must show their Poker Hands in a showdown, starting with the person who bet first on this round. In Texas Holdem the person with the best 5 card hand wins and takes the pot.