Gambling terms, explained straight

Advantage Play & Game Integrity

Community cards in poker

Community cards are face-up cards placed in the middle of the table that every player can use to form their best hand.

Also called
Shared cards; the set is called the board12
Used in
Texas hold 'em, Omaha, Six-plus hold 'em and other community card poker variants14

Key points

  • In Texas hold 'em, five community cards are dealt in stages: three on the flop, one on the turn, and one on the river.35
  • In Omaha, a player's final hand must use exactly two hole cards and three community cards.6
  • Community cards are public and shared by all players, unlike hole cards which are private and face-down.13

Common questions

What are the community cards in poker called?

Community cards are also called shared cards, and the full set of them is known as the board.12

How many community cards in poker?

The number varies by game. Texas hold 'em uses five community cards; Omaha also uses five. Other variants may use a different number.35

Where this term is used

Not the same as

  • Hole carding 3 card poker — a technique of secretly viewing another player's private card, whereas community cards are openly dealt to everyone
Advantage play Hole card poker Covers the private face-down cards each player receives in community card games. Advantage play Poker hole cards rankings Ranks starting hole-card hands by strength in Texas hold 'em and Omaha. Advantage play Poker bot Describes automated software that plays poker, often using community card information. Advantage play Poker bot AI Covers artificial intelligence used by poker bots to make decisions based on the board. Advantage play Collusion poker Explains how players secretly share information about hole cards to gain an edge. Advantage play Chip dumping poker A cheating method in poker where a player intentionally loses chips to an accomplice

Sources

  1. Community card poker en.wikipedia.org Defines community cards and lists the games they apply to.
  2. Glossary of poker terms en.wikipedia.org Provides the alternative term 'board' for the set of community cards.
  3. Texas hold 'em en.wikipedia.org Describes the flop, turn and river stages in Texas hold 'em.
  4. Poker en.wikipedia.org Confirms community cards are used in community card poker variants.
  5. Texas Hold'em Online: Strategy, Rules, and Winning Tips wizardofodds.com Details the five community cards dealt in Texas hold 'em.
  6. Omaha - Wizard of Odds wizardofodds.com Explains the Omaha rule that a hand must use exactly two hole cards and three community cards.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.