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Texas Hold'em rules in 10 minutes

The full flow of a single hand, from the dealer button through showdown, with as little jargon as possible.

1. Deck and objective

Texas Hold'em is played with a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). Each player gets two private cards — the hole cards — and shares up to five community cards dealt face-up in the middle of the table. From those seven cards, you make the best possible five-card hand. The last player standing, or the strongest hand at showdown, wins the pot.

2. Dealer button and blinds

A marker called the dealer button (BTN) moves one seat clockwise every hand. With three or more players, the player to the button's left posts the small blind (SB); the next seat posts the big blind (BB). Those two forced bets seed the pot before any cards are dealt.

3. Seating and action order

Action moves clockwise. With three or more players, pre-flop action starts with the first player able to act to the big blind's left — UTG, "under the gun". From the flop onward, the first player able to act clockwise from the button acts first. If the SB has folded, skip to the next player able to act. The two-player sequence is explained separately below.

Seat order and pre-flop action

BTN

Dealer

Forced bet

UTG

First to act ①

②

③

In this six-player example, pre-flop action is UTG → MP → CO → BTN → SB → BB. Skip folded and all-in players. The SB and BB still act after the button, and a raise can bring the action around again.

4. Four betting rounds

Pre-flop — right after each player receives two hole cards face-down. With three or more players, the active player to the left of the big blind acts first.
Flop — three community cards are dealt face-up. The first active player to the left of the button acts first.
Turn — a fourth community card is added. Another round of betting.
River — the fifth and final community card is added. Final round of betting.

On every round your options are fold, check (pass when no bet is live), call (match the current bet), or bet / raise. You can check only when you owe no additional chips to match the current bet. If you face an outstanding bet, choose fold, call, or a legal raise.

5. Showdown

If two or more players are still in after the river and the bets are matched, it's showdown. Using any combination of your two hole cards and the five board cards, the best five-card hand wins. "Playing the board" — using all five community cards and neither hole card — is also legal.

Compare the ranks forming the hand first. When these tie, compare kickers within the best five-card hand from highest to lowest. Identical five-card hands split the pot. A sixth or seventh card, or a different suit, cannot break that tie.

6. When the hand ends early

If everyone but one player folds at any point, that remaining player takes the pot immediately without showing cards. In practice, most hands end this way rather than at showdown.