How to Play Poker

The goal and the cards

In poker, each contest is called a hand. During a hand, players put chips in the pot. There are two ways to win those chips: show the best hand at showdown or be the only player who has not folded.

After following the guided hand, you can play poker free against bots to try the betting rounds and actions with play chips.

Texas Hold’em uses a deck of 52 cards, without jokers. Each player gets two private cards. Up to five community cards are dealt face up in the center, and anyone still in the hand can use them.

How to read the cards

From highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. A is ace, K is king, Q is queen and J is jack. T also means ten in diagrams and hand histories.

The four suits are ♥ hearts, ♦ diamonds, ♣ clubs and ♠ spades. They rank equally: spades do not beat hearts. Suits matter when making a flush or straight flush.

Notation such as AKs means ace and king of the same suit (suited); AKo, of different suits (offsuit). QQ means a pair of queens in the hole.

A hand from start to finish

Cards are revealed in stages. Betting rounds take place between them, moving clockwise and skipping players who have folded.

1. Setup

   The button identifies the dealer position. Players post the blinds, and everyone receives two cards face down.

2. Preflop · no community cards

   The player to the left of the big blind acts first. Players decide whether to call, raise or fold. The big blind can check if nobody raised and there is nothing left to call.

3. Flop · three community cards

   The first three cards are dealt together. From now on, the first player still in the hand to the left of the button acts first.

4. Turn · four community cards

   A new card is revealed, followed by another betting round.

5. River · five community cards

   The final card is revealed, followed by the last betting round.

6. Showdown · final comparison

   If more than one player remains, compare their best five-card hands. The winner gets the pot, and tied hands may split it.

A round ends when all active players have had a chance to act and matched the bet, except players who are all-in. It also ends when everyone checks.

What you can do on your turn

Act only on your turn. Your options depend on whether there is a bet to call in that round.

A check and a call are different. Checking adds no chips. Calling pays the outstanding amount. Once someone bets, anyone who owes chips must call, raise or fold. Players who cannot cover the full bet can call all-in with their remaining chips.

Button, blinds and order of play

O dealer button (BTN) is the reference point for the positions. With a professional dealer, the button marks the dealer position even though the player does not physically deal.

At this site’s six-player table, the seats go clockwise in this order:

• SB · small blind: the seat immediately left of the button. It posts the smaller mandatory bet.
• BB · big blind: the next seat. It posts the larger mandatory bet.
• UTG · under the gun: to the left of the BB. It starts the preflop action.
• HJ · hijack: between UTG and CO at this table.
• CO · cutoff: immediately before the button.
• BTN · button: acts after the CO preflop and last after the flop if still in the hand.

Preflop: UTG → HJ → CO → BTN → SB → BB on the first pass. A raise can send the action back to players who have already acted. After the flop: SB → BB → UTG → HJ → CO → BTN, skipping anyone who folded.

In the tutorial, the blinds are 5 and 10. They count toward the player’s preflop bet. An ante is an additional mandatory contribution when the structure requires one. It goes into the pot without counting toward a call. Each player can pay it separately, or the big blind can pay it for the table. The demo has no ante.

After the hand, the button moves one seat and the blinds move with it. With just two players (heads-up), the button is also the SB: it acts first preflop and last after the flop.

Poker hand rankings

Read from top to bottom: each category beats every category below it. The royal flush is the highest straight flush.

An ace can top the highest straight, 10-J-Q-K-A, or start the lowest, A-2-3-4-5. In the latter, five is the top card. A straight cannot wrap around: K-A-2-3-4 is not a straight.

How to decide who wins

Compare the category first. Three twos beat any two pair, even aces and kings. Compare ranks only when both hands are in the same category.

• Pair, three of a kind and four of a kind: compare the rank of the group, then compare the remaining kickers from highest to lowest if the groups tie.
• Two pair: compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card.
• Full house: compare the three of a kind first, then the pair.
• Straight and straight flush: compare the highest card in the sequence.
• Flush and high card: compare the highest card, then the next if tied, through the fifth.

Hands with the same five ranks and category tie. Suits never break that tie. An odd chip left after the split goes to a player according to the table rules.

Bet and raise sizes

This tutorial uses No Limit Hold’em. No-Limit means you can commit all the chips in front of you, subject to the minimum amounts. Small raises below the minimum are restricted.

With a big blind of 10, the minimum opening bet is normally 10. The minimum full raise matches the size of the last full raise in the round, which may differ from the total bet.

A player with fewer chips may go all-in below the minimum. A short all-in raise on its own does not reopen raising for someone who already acted and is not facing a full raise. Players who have yet to act retain their options, subject to the applicable limits.

Em Pot Limit, the maximum depends on the pot, including the call required before raising. In Fixed Limit, bets and raises follow set amounts. These structures change betting limits and use the same traditional hand rankings.

All-in and side pots

Being all-in means you have no chips left to bet in this hand. You can stay in even if you cannot cover the full bet, but you only contest the part of the pot covered by your contribution.

Any unmatched amount is returned to the only player who put it in. A single uncalled contribution does not form a contested pot. Several all-ins of different sizes can create multiple side pots.

Bets use the chips a player had in front of them at the start of the hand. A player cannot add new chips midway through the hand to cover a bet.

Formats and table rules

Texas Hold’em is a variant. Six-max describes the number of seats. Tournament and cash game are formats. A game can combine these different characteristics.

• Tournament: each player gets a stack of chips. Blinds can increase as levels progress. Players who lose all their chips are eliminated, subject to re-entry or rebuy rules.
• Cash game: blinds generally stay fixed, and joining or leaving is subject to the room’s rules.
• Sit & Go: a tournament that normally begins when the required number of players has registered.

At a live table, cards are dealt one at a time clockwise, starting to the left of the button. The dealer normally sets one card aside face down before the flop, turn and river. Nobody can use that burn card.

Wait your turn, keep your cards private and announce your action clearly. The table rules govern who shows first, time limits and odd chips in ties. Usually the last player to bet or raise on the river shows first. If everyone checked, the first active player to the left of the button shows first.

Frequently asked questions