Poker

Texas holdem rules

Hole cards

2 per player, dealt face down

Community cards

5 dealt face up in stages: flop (3), turn (1), river (1)

Hand pool

7 cards (2 hole + 5 community); best 5-card hand wins

Betting structure

Blinds (small and big) used instead of antes in standard play

Key points

• Each player receives two private hole cards; five community cards are dealt face up in three stages: flop, turn, and river.¹⁴
• Betting rounds occur before the flop and after each community card deal, using blinds to initiate action.³⁴
• The winner is the player who makes the best five-card poker hand from any combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards.¹⁴
• Texas hold'em rules differ from texas hold'em hands, which refer only to the two-card starting hand, not the full game procedure.²

How to play Texas hold'em

1. Two players post the small blind and big blind before any cards are dealt.³
2. Each player receives two hole cards face down. A betting round begins with the player to the left of the big blind.¹
3. Three community cards (the flop) are dealt face up, followed by a second betting round starting with the first active player to the dealer's left.⁴
4. The turn (fourth community card) and river (fifth community card) are each dealt face up, each followed by a betting round.¹⁴
5. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs: the best five-card hand wins the pot.¹

Key rule differences from other poker variants

Unlike five-card draw, Texas hold'em uses shared community cards and multiple betting rounds. In Omaha, players receive four hole cards and must use exactly two of them, whereas hold'em allows any combination of hole and community cards.¹

Texas hold'em rules for beginners often emphasise the importance of position: acting later in a betting round provides more information about opponents' hands. The use of blinds rather than antes also distinguishes hold'em from many other poker games.³

Common questions

Where this term is used

• Poker

Not the same as

• Texas Hold'em hands — texas hold'em hands are the specific two-card starting hand dealt to a player, not the rules of the whole game
• Texas hold em dealing rules — texas hold em dealing rules cover only the dealing sequence, not the full set of betting and showdown rules

Related terms

Sources

1. Texas hold 'em en.wikipedia.org Provides the standard description of Texas hold'em rules, including hole cards, community cards, betting rounds, and showdown.
2. Texas hold 'em starting hands - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org Distinguishes starting hands from the full game rules, used in the key points.
3. Texas Hold'em Poker - Kartenspiel Regeln pagat.com Details the use of blinds and the betting structure in Texas hold'em.
4. Texas Hold'em Poker - card game rules pagat.com Describes the dealing sequence and hand combination rules.

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.