Do not confuse hole card poker (a game format) with hole carding (the act of secretly seeing another player's or the dealer's hidden card).
Advantage Play & Game Integrity
Hole card poker
A hole card poker situation is any poker hand in which players receive one or more face-down private cards, called hole cards, that are hidden from opponents until showdown.
Key points
- Hole cards are dealt face-down and stay concealed until showdown or a reveal condition.12
- In community-card games like Texas hold 'em, hole cards combine with shared board cards to form the final hand.13
- In stud poker, hidden cards are dealt alongside face-up cards over multiple betting rounds.2
Where this term is used
Not the same as
- Hole card meaning — a broader page covering both the poker term and the advantage-play tactic of observing the dealer's hidden card
Related terms
Advantage play
Poker hole cards rankings
Explains how starting hole cards are ranked by strength in Texas hold 'em.
Advantage play
Hole carding 3 card poker
Covers the advantage-play tactic of spotting the dealer's hidden card in three card poker.
Advantage play
Community cards in poker
Defines the shared board cards used in games like Texas hold 'em and Omaha.
Advantage play
Card counting
General overview of card counting as an advantage-play technique.
Advantage play
Blackjack card counting
Explains the specific card-counting methods used in blackjack.
Advantage play
Chip dumping
Chip dumping is a collusive tactic in poker where one player intentionally loses chips to another
Sources
- Texas hold 'em en.wikipedia.org Defines hole cards in Texas hold 'em and states the standard two-hole-card format.
- Stud poker en.wikipedia.org Describes how hole cards work in stud poker variants.
- Community card poker en.wikipedia.org Explains the role of hole cards in community card poker.
- Texas hold 'em starting hands en.wikipedia.org Confirms the use of a 52-card deck in poker.
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.