Texas Hold'em (No Limit)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. All-in and side pots
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Texas Hold'em is the world's most popular form of poker. Each player gets two secret cards, and five cards are laid face up in the middle for everyone to use. Over four betting rounds players put chips into a shared pot – or give up. The pot goes to the last player left in, or to whoever makes the best five-card poker hand at the end. In no-limit Hold'em you may bet all your chips at any time.

• Players: 2–10, each for themselves.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 100 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal.

At the end you make the best hand of exactly five cards out of seven. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest straight. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands tie and share the pot – suits never break ties.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips (at least the big blind, see below).
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more. In no-limit, a raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise in this round; the maximum is all your chips.
• Fold – give up: put your cards away face down. You lose what you have already put in and take no further part in this deal.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in) and has had a chance to act.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Agree on the blinds – two forced bets that start each pot, e.g. small blind 1 and big blind 2 chips.
2. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut). The dealer's position is marked with a button (any small object); it moves one place to the left after each deal.
3. The player to the dealer's left puts in the small blind, the next player to the left the big blind. With only two players, the dealer puts in the small blind and the other player the big blind.
4. The dealer shuffles and deals everyone two cards face down, one at a time, starting on the left. These are your hole cards – look at them, but show them to no one.

A deal, step by step

1. Preflop: the first betting round. The player left of the big blind starts; play goes clockwise. The blinds count as bets, so to stay in you must at least call the big blind. The big blind acts last and, if everyone just called, may either check or raise.

2. Flop: the dealer "burns" one card (puts it aside face down, unseen) and turns three cards face up in the middle. These community cards (the board) belong to everyone. Second betting round – from now on, the first player still in to the left of the dealer starts, and players may check.

3. Turn: burn one card, turn up a fourth community card. Third betting round.

4. River: burn one card, turn up the fifth community card. Fourth and last betting round.

5. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, they turn their hole cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first; if everyone checked, the first player still in to the dealer's left shows first. Each makes the best five-card hand from their two hole cards plus the five on the board, using both, one or none of their own cards. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Example: The board is K♥ 9♠ 9♦ 4♣ 2♥. Anna holds K♣ 7♦ – her best hand is K K 9 9 7 (two pair). Ben holds A♥ 9♥ – he has 9 9 9 K A (three of a kind) and wins. Had Ben held A♦ K♦, both would have two pair K K 9 9, and Anna's 7 would lose to his A as the fifth card.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, or want to bet everything, you go all-in: you put all your remaining chips in. You stay in until the showdown without betting further, but you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself.

The extra chips that the other players bet beyond your all-in amount go into a separate side pot, which only they can win. At the showdown, the side pot is settled first among the players in it, then the main pot among everyone still in, including you.

Example: Carla goes all-in with 20 chips. Dan and Eva each call 20 and keep betting: 30 more each. The main pot holds 60 (20 from each) plus the blinds and earlier bets; the side pot holds 60 (30 from Dan and Eva). If Carla has the best hand, she wins the main pot, and the better of Dan and Eva takes the side pot.

If everyone still in is all-in (or only one player still has chips), nobody can bet any more: the rest of the board is turned up at once and the showdown follows.

Anyone who has no chips left is out of the game.

Winning the game

Play until only one player has chips left, or stop at an agreed time – then the player with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Fold most hands before the flop. Pairs, two high cards (like A-K, A-Q, K-Q) and two high cards of the same suit are worth playing.
• Position matters: acting after the others gives you more information. Play more hands when you are close to the button.
• Always look for the best possible hand on the board – could someone have a flush or straight?
• Don't call just because you have already put chips in. Chips in the pot are no longer yours.
• Bluffing works best against few opponents and only now and then.

Variants

• Limit Hold'em: bets and raises are fixed amounts – in the first two betting rounds equal to the big blind, in the last two double that – and usually only one bet plus three raises are allowed per round.
• Pot limit: the largest bet or raise allowed is the amount in the pot.
• Tournament style: the blinds go up at regular intervals (e.g. every 20 minutes), so the game comes to an end.
• Ante: in addition to the blinds, every player puts a small ante (a fixed stake) into the pot before the deal.
• Pineapple: each player is dealt three hole cards and discards one of them before the first betting round.