Texas Hold'em Rules

They say that it takes a few minutes to learn the game of Texas Hold'em but it requires a lifetime to master the game. Listed below are a few standard rules of Texas Hold'em to help you on your way towards becoming a poker professional.

Cards

Texas Hold’em is played with the standard deck of 52 cards, with the ace having the highest rank. The goal of the game is to form the best five-card poker hand, based on the standard poker hands ranking. Players are initially dealt two facedown cards, called the pocket cards or hole cards. After an initial round of betting, three community cards are dealt face up on the table. These cards consitute the flop. Following another round of betting, the fourth community card, known as the turn, is dealt face up on the table. After another round of betting, the fifth and final community card, known as the river, is dealt face up on the table. After the final betting round any players left in the hand reach the showdown, where the best poker hand wins the pot.

Blinds

The blinds are forced bets to ensure that there are chips in the pot. The small blind is posted by the first player sitting to the left of the dealer and the big blind is posted by the player sitting to the small blind's left. The small blind is equal to half of the big blind. In cash games the blinds remain the same all the time, but in tournaments the blinds increase periodically.

Limits

Three variations of Texas Hold'em define the permitted betting structures. In Limit Hold'em, bets and raises during the first two betting rounds are limited to the size of the big blind, while in the later betting rounds they are double the size of the big blinds. In Pot Limit Hold'em, the maximum raise is limited to the current size of the pot. In No Limit Hold'em, players can raise any amount of chips over the minimum bet.

Basic Play

After the blinds have been posted, the betting structure and the dealing of the flop and additional community cards follow a  standard order and are defined in our description of a Texas Hold'em game round.

Other Rules

Listed below is a selection of Texas Hold’em rules that are valid for both online play and gaming at a casino. This should not be regarded as a complete or official list, but rather a partial listing of the many individual rules that define the game of Texas Hold’em.

1. Players must post their blinds and antes before the cards of the hand are dealt.
2. In no limit or pot limit, a bet must be at least the amount of the big blind.
3. In no limit or pot limit, a raise must be at least the amount of the previous bet.
4. In the case of a split pot when there are two or more high hands, the chips will be split as evenly as possible with any leftover chips given to the winning player based on his position left of the button.
5. Initial tournament seats will be randomly assigned.
6. Players reassigned to a new tournament table will assume the responsibilities of their new position. They may receive any position from blind to button.
7. Prior to the "bubble", the tournament may be played "hand-for-hand".
8. Cashing out part of a player’s chip stack from a cash game is not allowed.