How to Play Texas Hold'em

Texas Hold'em is the world's most popular poker variant. Two hole cards each, five shared community cards, and four rounds of betting. This page covers the full ruleset, the hand rankings, the flow of a hand, basic betting and position, and a beginner-friendly starting-hand chart you can take to the table today.

→ Hand rankings → Game flow → Blinds & betting → Position → Starting hands → FAQ

The Goal

Make the best five-card poker hand using any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards — or get every other player to fold before the showdown. You can win without showing your cards by betting an amount no one is willing to call.

Poker Hand Rankings

Ten possible hands, ordered from strongest to weakest. The percentages show how often you make each hand at showdown across all seven cards in a Texas Hold'em hand.

Royal Flush

A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠

A-K-Q-J-T of the same suit. The single best hand in poker — and one you can play for years without making.

Frequency

0.0032%

Straight Flush

9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥

Five cards in sequence, all the same suit. Any straight flush beats any four of a kind.

Frequency

0.031%

Four of a Kind

8♠ 8♥ 8♦ 8♣ K♦

Four cards of the same rank, plus any fifth card. Often called "quads."

Frequency

0.168%

Full House

Q♠ Q♥ Q♣ 7♦ 7♠

Three of a kind plus a pair. Read as "queens full of sevens."

Frequency

2.60%

Flush

A♦ J♦ 9♦ 5♦ 2♦

Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence. The highest card determines flush strength.

Frequency

3.03%

Straight

9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣

Five cards in sequence, suits mixed. Ace can play high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A).

Frequency

4.62%

Three of a Kind

J♥ J♠ J♣ 8♦ 3♣

Three cards of the same rank. "Set" if made with a pocket pair plus a third on the board; "trips" if made with one hole card matching two on the board.

Frequency

4.83%

Two Pair

A♥ A♦ 7♣ 7♠ 4♦

Two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and any fifth card.

Frequency

23.5%

One Pair

10♣ 10♠ K♦ 6♥ 3♣

Two cards of the same rank, three unrelated cards. The most common made hand at showdown.

Frequency

43.8%

High Card

A♦ K♣ 9♥ 5♠ 2♣

No pair, no flush, no straight. The highest card plays as your hand.

Frequency

17.4%

Frequencies are approximate odds of making each hand using the best five of seven cards in a complete Texas Hold'em hand.

The Flow of a Hand

Every hand of Texas Hold'em moves through the same five stages. Each betting round gives players the chance to fold, check, call, bet, or raise based on what they've seen so far.

Preflop

A♠ K♥

Blinds posted. Two hole cards dealt to each player. First betting round starts left of the big blind.

The Flop

Q♦ 8♠ 4♥

Three community cards dealt face-up. Second betting round, starting with the first active player left of the button.

The Turn

Q♦ 8♠ 4♥ J♣

Fourth community card dealt. Third betting round. Stakes typically rise as pot size grows.

The River

Q♦ 8♠ 4♥ J♣ 2♦

Fifth and final community card. Final betting round. After this, surviving players proceed to showdown.

Showdown

🏆

Best five-card hand using any combination of hole and community cards wins the pot. If only one player remains uncalled, they win without showing.

Blinds & Betting

Texas Hold'em uses forced bets called blinds to seed the pot and give every hand initial action.

The Blinds

Two players post forced bets every hand: the small blind (player immediately left of the dealer button) and the big blind (next player clockwise, typically double the small blind). At a $1/$2 table, the small blind posts $1 and the big blind posts $2. The blinds rotate one seat to the left each hand so every player posts both blinds over a full orbit.

The Five Actions

Fold — Discard your hand and forfeit the pot. Costs nothing if no bet is required to call.
Check — Pass the action to the next player without betting. Only available if no one has bet yet on the current street.
Call — Match the current bet.
Bet / Raise — Bet if no one has yet on this street; raise if someone has. A minimum raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise.
All-in — Commit every chip you have. If your stack is smaller than the current bet, you can still go all-in for less and play for a proportional share of the pot.

Pot Odds — The Most Important Math

When facing a bet, compare the price you're paying to the size of the pot you might win. If the pot is $80 and you have to call $20, you're getting 4-to-1 — your hand needs to be good or improve at least 1 time in 5 to make the call profitable. Master this and you've already eliminated half of the bad calls beginners make. Use the Pot Odds Calculator to drill the math until it's automatic.

Position: The Lever Beginners Underestimate

The seat you're in changes the EV of every decision. Acting last means more information; acting first means less.

Late position (best) Early / middle Blinds (forced bets)

Small Blind

Posts a forced half-blind preflop. Acts first on every postflop street — the worst position at the table.

Big Blind

Posts the full blind preflop. Acts last preflop, second-to-act postflop. Defends a wide range against late-position opens.

UTG

Under the Gun

First to act preflop. Plays the tightest opening range — has 8 players still to act behind.

UTG+1

Under the Gun +1

Second to act preflop. Slightly wider than UTG but still tight.

Middle Position

Mid-strength positional disadvantage. Opens wider than UTG, tighter than late position.

Hijack

Two off the button. Opening ranges widen meaningfully — fewer players behind.

Cutoff

One off the button. The second-best position at the table. Wide opens are correct.

BTN

Button

Last to act on every postflop street. The most profitable seat in the game.

The single biggest leak in beginner play is treating every position the same. Open ranges from the button should be roughly four times wider than open ranges from under the gun — the difference between profit and bleed at most stakes. GTO Ranges+ gives you the full position-by-position opening chart at any stack depth.

A Beginner's Starting Hand Chart

Every poker hand has 169 possible starting combinations (suited vs offsuit collapsed). This chart bands them by tier — start tight, focus on the orange and blue cells, and only expand into the green hands once you have position and a tight table image.

AKs

AQs

AJs

ATs

A9s

A8s

A7s

A6s

A5s

A4s

A3s

A2s

AKo

KQs

KJs

KTs

K9s

K8s

K7s

K6s

K5s

K4s

K3s

K2s

AQo

KQo

QJs

QTs

Q9s

Q8s

Q7s

Q6s

Q5s

Q4s

Q3s

Q2s

AJo

KJo

QJo

JTs

J9s

J8s

J7s

J6s

J5s

J4s

J3s

J2s

ATo

KTo

QTo

JTo

T9s

T8s

T7s

T6s

T5s

T4s

T3s

T2s

A9o

K9o

Q9o

J9o

T9o

98s

97s

96s

95s

94s

93s

92s

A8o

K8o

Q8o

J8o

T8o

98o

87s

86s

85s

84s

83s

82s

A7o

K7o

Q7o

J7o

T7o

97o

87o

76s

75s

74s

73s

72s

A6o

K6o

Q6o

J6o

T6o

96o

86o

76o

65s

64s

63s

62s

A5o

K5o

Q5o

J5o

T5o

95o

85o

75o

65o

54s

53s

52s

A4o

K4o

Q4o

J4o

T4o

94o

84o

74o

64o

54o

43s

42s

A3o

K3o

Q3o

J3o

T3o

93o

83o

73o

63o

53o

43o

32s

A2o

K2o

Q2o

J2o

T2o

92o

82o

72o

62o

52o

42o

32o

Premium — always play

Strong — play in most spots

Playable — position & lineup matter

Fold — by default

This is a beginner's static chart — useful for your first 10,000 hands. Real GTO play has hands mixing across tiers depending on stack depth, position, opponents, and game type. When you outgrow the static chart, GTO Ranges+ gives you the full position-by-position, stack-depth-aware solver-derived ranges.

Five Beginner Mistakes That Cost the Most

1

Playing too many hands

If you're playing more than ~25% of hands at a full ring table, you're losing money on most of them. Stick to the orange and blue cells in the chart above until tight discipline becomes automatic.
2

Calling instead of folding or raising

Calling is the weakest action. Good players raise or fold the overwhelming majority of the time — calling leaves you guessing on every later street with mediocre equity.
3

Ignoring position

Opening K-9 offsuit under the gun and opening it on the button are two completely different decisions. Most beginners use the same range from every seat — a quiet leak that compounds across thousands of hands.
4

Not understanding pot odds

The single highest-EV math skill you can learn. If you're not comparing the price of a call to the size of the pot before every river decision, you're guessing.
5

Slowplaying strong hands

The "trap" with pocket aces almost always costs you value. Strong hands play best as raises and bets — protecting your equity and building the pot you want to win.

Quick Glossary

The terms you'll hear most often in your first month of play. Each links to a longer entry in our full glossary.

Preflop — before the flop Flop — first 3 community cards Turn — 4th community card River — 5th community card Check — pass without betting Raise — increase the bet All-in — commit your whole stack Pot odds — call price vs pot Equity — % chance to win Position — who acts last Cutoff — one off the button Button — best seat at the table Blinds — forced preflop bets Set — three of a kind w/ pocket pair Trips — three of a kind w/ board

Full glossary →

What to Study Next

You've got the rules. The shortest path from here to a winning player runs through three things: preflop ranges you memorize cold, postflop discipline you practice daily, and the math you do in your head at the table.

Free tool

Pot Odds Calculator

Train the most important math in poker until it's automatic at the table.

Guide

Cash Game Fundamentals

Table selection, preflop, c-betting, bankroll — the cash-game beginner pillar.

Guide

Beginner's Guide to GTO Poker

From basics to balanced ranges, equity, and a 12-week study plan.

Texas Hold'em FAQ

The questions new players ask most often.

Pocket aces (A-A) is the strongest starting hand. It is a roughly 80% favorite against any other unpaired hand preflop, and around 4.5-to-1 against any single random opponent.

A full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush all beat a flush. A straight does NOT beat a flush — flushes outrank straights in standard poker hand rankings.

You receive two private "hole cards" face-down. Five "community cards" are dealt face-up in the middle of the table. You make your best five-card hand using any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards.

Two players each round post forced bets before any cards are dealt: the player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, and the next player posts the big blind (typically twice the small blind). The blinds rotate one seat to the left each hand, so every player posts both blinds over a full orbit.

The flop is the first three community cards, dealt face-up in the middle of the table after the preflop betting round ends. The flop kicks off the second betting round.

Yes — if no one has bet on the flop yet, you can check to pass the action to the next player without committing chips. Once someone bets, your options are call, raise, or fold; you can no longer check.

The dealer button is a marker that designates who acts last on every postflop street. It rotates one seat clockwise each hand. Being "on the button" is the most valuable position at the table because you have the most information when you act.

Going all-in means betting every chip you have left in front of you. You can go all-in on any betting round. If a smaller stack goes all-in, opponents can only win the portion of the pot equal to the all-in amount (called a "side pot" structure when multiple players are involved).

Pot odds is the ratio of the current pot size to the cost of your call. If the pot is $100 and you have to call $20, you are getting 5-to-1 pot odds. If your hand has more than 1-in-6 equity (about 16.7%) to improve to the winning hand, calling is profitable on pot odds alone.

In Texas Hold'em you get two hole cards and can use any combination of hole and community cards to make your best five-card hand. In Omaha you get four hole cards and must use exactly two of them with exactly three community cards. Omaha is more equity-driven and harder to fold, which is why bankroll requirements are typically higher.

Texas Hold'em is the most popular variant of poker but it is not the only one. Other variants include Omaha, Stud, Razz, and mixed games like H.O.R.S.E. When people say "poker" today they usually mean Texas Hold'em.

A single hand usually takes 1-3 minutes. A full table of nine players completes about 25-35 hands per hour live, and 60-100 hands per hour online thanks to faster dealing and forced action timers.

Ready to Play

Drill the ranges that actually win

The starting-hand chart above is a beginner shortcut. GTO Ranges+ gives you the full position-by-position, stack-depth-aware solver-derived ranges — the same charts the best players in the world drill before every session.

Open GTO Ranges+ See all 6 apps