Texas Hold'em Rules: The Complete Beginner's Guide
Texas Hold'em rules fit in one sentence: each player gets 2 private cards, 5 community cards are dealt face up in three steps (the flop, the turn, the river), and the best five-card hand built from those 7 cards wins the pot at showdown, unless everyone else has folded first. Two forced bets, the blinds, start the action, and there is a betting round before the flop and after each step.
The setup: cards, button and blinds
- Deck: 52 cards, no jokers. A table holds 2 to 10 players.
- Button: a disc marks the dealer's seat; it moves one seat clockwise after every hand, so everyone takes a turn in each position.
- Blinds: the player to the left of the button posts the small blind, the next player the big blind, usually twice as much. These forced bets give everyone a reason to play.
- Private cards: each player is dealt 2 cards face down, seen only by them.
Try it: your first decision
You are in the big blind with K♣9♦. The button raises to 2 big blinds, the smallest raise allowed, and the small blind folds. You act last before the flop: fold, call, or re-raise?
The 4 betting rounds
| Round | Cards dealt | Who acts first |
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | 2 private cards each | left of the big blind |
| Flop | 3 community cards | first player left of the button |
| Turn | 1 community card | first player left of the button |
| River | 1 community card | first player left of the button |
A round ends once every player still in has acted and all have put in the same amount (or all checked). Before the flop, the big blind keeps the option to raise even if everyone just called. If only one player is left, they win the pot without showing their cards.
Where the decisions fall in our own library: of the 647 puzzles in Poker Puzzle Trainer (counted on 15 October 2026, by the number of board cards in each puzzle), 105 are played preflop, 166 on the flop, 193 on the turn and 183 on the river. That split reflects how the author built the library, not how often each round comes up at a real table, but it shows where most of the practice happens: after the flop, where each new card changes what both players can hold.
Your options when it is your turn
- Check: pass without betting, only if no one has bet in this round.
- Bet: put chips in first. In no-limit, the minimum bet is one big blind.
- Call: match the current bet.
- Raise: increase the bet. The raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise: with blinds of 1 and 2, if a player raises to 6 (a raise of 4), the next raise goes to at least 10.
- Fold: give up your cards and anything you have already put in the pot.
All‑in and side pots: you can always bet all your chips. A player who is all‑in can only win, from each opponent, as much as they put in themselves; the extra chips form a side pot played between the others.
Showdown: who wins
After the last river bet, the players still in show their cards. Each makes the best five-card hand out of their 7 cards (2 private + 5 on the board). The full order, from royal flush down to high card, is in our poker hand rankings guide: 10 categories to know by heart.
- Kicker: between two hands of the same category, the highest remaining card decides (a pair of kings with an ace beats a pair of kings with a queen).
- Equal hands: the pot is split; suits never rank.
- Who shows first: usually the last player who bet or raised on the river; if everyone checked, the first player to the left of the button.
The heads-up exception
With only 2 players, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, then last on the flop, turn and river. It is the only change to the order of action, and it is easy to forget.
Limit, pot-limit, no-limit
The cards and rounds are the same; only the bet size changes. In limit, bets and raises are fixed amounts. In pot-limit, you can bet up to the size of the pot. In no-limit, the most common form today, you can bet any amount up to all your chips.
Three beginner mistakes
- Believing you must use both of your cards: the board alone can be your best hand.
- Forgetting the minimum raise: a raise smaller than the previous one is not allowed.
- Acting out of turn: it gives away information and can change the action at the table.
Keep going
- The order of every hand: poker hand rankings.
- Why the seat matters: poker positions.
- Which hands to play: the starting hands chart.
- The full path for beginners: learn poker free.
- Put the rules into practice: our free poker trainer.
- Play your first hands with no risk: practice poker without money.
- Playing one opponent at a time: heads-up poker strategy.
- The procedure rules in a card room: live poker tips.
- When two hands tie, and who gets the odd chip: split pot.
Sources
- The rules of no-limit Texas Hold'em as commonly played; showdown order and minimum raise follow the Poker TDA rules.
- Hand from the curated Poker Puzzle Trainer corpus (October 10, 2026), written by the app's author.