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Texas Hold’em Rules Overview. Texas Hold’em can be played using limit, pot-limit, or no-limit. Texas Hold’em All-In Rules The major difference between Fixed-Limit and No-Limit Hold’em is that at any time in No-Limit a player may wager all of his/her chips, known as “going all-in”. This can create some interesting scenarios, as players do not always have the same amount of chips as others.

Streets & Rounds of Betting

Posting of the Blinds

Before the cards are dealt , two players most post a blind bet. These are called the small and big blinds (sb and bb for short) as the players haven't seen their cards yet and are putting money into the pot 'blind'. While games like 7-card stud feature ante bets and bring-ins, games like Hold'em are played with blinds.

These blinds are always posted by the two players to the left of the dealer. The player to the immediate left posts the small blind with the player second to the dealer's left posting the big blind.

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Pre-Flop

• Each player is dealt two face-down cards. These are called 'hole cards'.
• After the hole cards are dealt there is a round of betting.

Flop

• If players remain, three face up community cards are dealt.
• After the flop has been dealt there is a round of betting.

Turn

• If players remain, a fourth face up community card is dealt.
• After the turn has been dealt there is a third round of betting.

River

• If players remain, a final fifth community card is dealt face-up on the table.
• The final round of betting takes place.

Showdown

• After the final round of betting, the remaining players reveal their cards to find out who has the best hand.

Find out more about Poker Hand Rankings

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Your Options

Every poker player has five options to choose from when it's their turn to act in a betting round.

Fold

If a player doesn't feel their holding is strong and doesn't want to continue in the hand, they can elect to 'fold' and throw their cards away. This player will be dealt into the next hand.
Note: If there is no bet to call then it's always advisable to 'check' instead of folding. Even if you don't feel you have a strong card, the next card could change that!

Bet

When no-one acting before the player has bet anything, the player can 'bet'. As the name suggests, bets aren't limited in No Limit Hold'em. As long as the best is at least the size of the 'Big Blind' the player can bet their entire stack at anytime.
After a bet has been made anyone who wishes to continue playing in the hand must either match your bet or raise. If other players are not prepared to match the bet, the only option left for them is to fold.
In a situation where a player bets all their chips, the player is deemed to be 'all in'. Once all in, the player cannot do anything more, but also cannot be forced to fold.

Raise

If a player is facing a bet they have the option to raise.
For example if you are facing a bet of $10 you might consider raising to $30. This will make your opponent re-evaluate their hand. If they're not prepared to match or raise your raise, they have to fold.

Call

If a player is facing a bet they have the option to call.
For example if you are facing a bet of $10 you might consider matching it and calling. By calling you're ensuring you stay in the hand for the time being.

Check

If you are not facing a bet, then you can check. To check is to simply pass the action onto the next player.

When is it Your Turn?

It is important to understand when it is your turn to act. There are a couple of simple rules to understand regarding this.
In the first round of betting the player to the left of the Big Blind is first to act. This is because both the blinds are deemed to have acted. The action moves clockwise with each player electing to: call the big blind, raise or fold. If there has been no raise the action for the round ends with the Big Blind who can either check or raise.
In all later rounds of betting (Flop, Turn & River) action continues to move clockwise, but starts with the small blind and ends with the 'dealer' or 'button'.

Best Five Card Hand Wins

There are a total of seven cards that can be used to make a poker hand: Two hole cards & Five community cards.

Players can use any combination of their hole cards and the community cards to make their best five card poker hand. In some instances a player's best five card hand will be comprised of just the community cards and in others they will maybe only use one hole card and four community cards.

Player one uses both of his hole cards together with three community cards to make the best possible five card hand he can, a full house. The best hand player two can make is an Ace High Flush. See all Poker Hand Rankings.

If you're still having difficulty learning how to play, please watch our how to play poker beginner training video.

Put it all Together!

Poker Texas Holdem No Limits

No Limit Texas Holdem Rules

The Texas Holdem version of poker is one of the easiest to learn. It is for this reason that it has now become the most popular poker variant both online and in casinos.

The simplicity of the rules allows new players to pick up the game and start playing after a few minutes, whilst the depth of the game helps keep players interested for years. This guide aims to give you a complete understanding on how Texas Holdem is played, and it will take no longer than 5 minutes.

Texas Hold'em rules basics.

Texas Holdem is played with a 52-card deck and poker chips. Texas Holdem can be played in a cash game style, where there is no time limit and each hand is played with real money.

The game can also be played in a tournament style where each player receives a set amount of chips at the start, and the winner is the player that obtains all of the chips on the table. Tournaments can also be played for real money, where the winner takes all or part of the other players’ buy-ins.

• Each player is dealt two cards face down on the table, these are called 'holecards'.
• 5 community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table in 3 separate stages.
• The Flop is the first stage, where the first 3 cards are dealt face up.
• The Turn is the second stage, where 1 card is dealt up.
• The River is the final stage, where 1 last card is dealt face up.
• Players use a combination of the 2 cards in their hand and the 5 cards on the table to make the best 5 card hand (see Texas Hold'em hand rank).
• At each stage there is a round of betting.
• If there are still players left in the hand after the final round of betting, the hand will go to a ‘showdown’ and the best hand will take the money in the pot.

Texas Hold'em betting.

Betting is a fundamental part of poker. The amount you can bet depends of the variant of Texas Holdem you are playing.

• In Limit Holdem you can only bet a fixed amount on each round.
• In Pot Limit Holdem you can bet any size you wish up to the amount that is already in the pot.
• In No Limit Holdem you can bet any amount of money on any round up to the amount you have in front of you.

There are numerous stages in the game of Texas Holdem where betting can take place.

Sequence of rounds and betting.

Holecards are dealt
Round of betting
Flop is dealt
Round of betting
Turn is dealt
Round of betting
River is dealt
Round of betting

In each of these rounds of betting, you will have 3 options available to you depending on what has happened before the action reaches you. The two situations you will be in are acting after there has been a bet, or acting after no bets have been made. (See the bet sizing article for betting strategy in Texas Hold'em.)

Acting after no bets.

1. Check – By ‘checking’ you do not put any money in the pot, and the next card will be dealt if no other bets are made.
2. Bet – By betting you put money into the pot. This means that the other players must call this bet to see the next card to be dealt.
3. Fold – You also have the option to fold, but this is rarely done because it is currently free for you to see another card and give yourself an opportunity to make the best hand.

Acting after a bet.

1. Call – By calling, you put the same amount of money into the pot that the other player has bet. Therefore you will see the next card if no other players raise this bet.
2. Raise – You can raise another player’s bet and force them to call an additional amount of money for them to see the next card.
3. Fold – If you do not wish to put more money into the pot, you can fold your hand. Your hand will be declared 'dead' and you will no longer be able to win the money in the pot.

Dealing in Texas Holdem.

The cards in Texas Holdem have to be dealt in accordance to a simple set of rules. These rules help to keep the dealing fair, and prevent the cards from being fixed.

• Holecards must be dealt 1 at a time from the top of the pack in a clockwise motion starting from the dealer’s left.
• Before the flop can be dealt, a card must be 'burned' which means that this card is dealt face down on the table and placed to one side.
• Before the turn, another card must be 'burned'.
• Before the river, one final card must again be 'burned'.

Texas Hold'em rules overview.

As you can hopefully see, Texas Holdem is a very simple game to pick up. It is also a very enjoyable game and can be played for real money or for entertainment purposes without the use of money. Due to the betting nature of the game, it is possible to learn skills and strategies to improve the way you play and win money through playing poker. If you want to be able to win money through poker, we have a strategy section with numerous strategy guides to help you improve your poker game.

Now go out and start playing some Texas Holdem. Don't forget to brush up on the Hold'em hand rank (try the hand rank quiz for some extra help) before you play to ensure that you know what beats what.

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