Texas Hold'em Rules: A Complete Beginner's Guide

The Basics: How Texas Hold'em Works

Each player receives two private cards (called hole cards). Five community cards are dealt face-up on the table in three stages. Your goal is to make the best five-card poker hand using any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards. You can use both, one, or even none of your hole cards.

A hand of Hold'em has four betting rounds. At any point, you can fold (give up), call (match the current bet), or raise (increase the bet). The player who makes the best hand — or the last player standing after everyone else folds — wins the pot.

Hand Rankings (Best to Worst)

Before you play a single hand, you need to know what beats what. Here are the ten poker hand rankings from strongest to weakest:

Royal Flush — A, K, Q, J, 10 all of the same suit. The best possible hand.
Straight Flush — Five consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 5-6-7-8-9 of hearts).
Four of a Kind — Four cards of the same rank (e.g., four Kings).
Full House — Three of a kind plus a pair (e.g., three 8s and two 4s).
Flush — Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.
Straight — Five consecutive cards of mixed suits (e.g., 4-5-6-7-8).
Three of a Kind — Three cards of the same rank.
Two Pair — Two different pairs (e.g., two Jacks and two 5s).
One Pair — Two cards of the same rank.
High Card — When you have none of the above, your highest card plays.

Not sure which hand wins? Use the Pokra odds calculator to compare hands and learn the probabilities.

Positions and Blinds

Before any cards are dealt, two players must post forced bets called blinds. The player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, and the next player posts the big blind (usually double the small blind). Blinds ensure there's always money in the pot to play for.

The dealer position (marked by a button) rotates clockwise after each hand, so everyone takes turns posting blinds. Position matters in poker because players who act later in a betting round have more information. The dealer and the positions just before it (called late position) are the most advantageous because you get to see what everyone else does before you decide.

The Four Betting Rounds

Preflop: Each player receives two hole cards face down. Betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind. You can fold, call the big blind, or raise. Action continues clockwise until all bets are matched.

The Flop: Three community cards are dealt face-up on the table. A new round of betting begins, starting with the first active player to the left of the dealer. Players can now check (pass the action without betting) if no bet has been made.

The Turn: A fourth community card is dealt. Another round of betting follows, using the same rules as the flop. In limit games, the bet size usually doubles on the turn.

The River: The fifth and final community card is dealt. One last round of betting takes place. After this round, if two or more players remain, they go to showdown.

Showdown: Who Wins?

At showdown, remaining players reveal their hole cards. The player with the best five-card hand wins the pot. If two players have the exact same hand strength, the pot is split equally between them.

Remember: you make your best five-card hand from any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards. Sometimes the best hand is made entirely from community cards (called "playing the board"), in which case all remaining players would split the pot.

If you're ever unsure who won, Pokra tracks the entire hand and determines the winner automatically — no arguments needed.

Start Playing

You now know enough to sit down and play. The best way to learn is by actually playing hands. Start with a casual home game where the stakes are low and mistakes are cheap. Focus on learning hand rankings and position before worrying about advanced strategy.

Pokra makes it easy to run your first home game. It handles chip tracking, blinds, pot calculations, and settling up at the end. You focus on learning the game while the app takes care of the logistics.