Texas Hold'em is the most played poker game in the world: two private cards each, five shared cards on the table, four rounds of betting. This page covers how a hand runs, the seats, how to deal it, and the odds of the cards you are dealt.
The two players left of the button post the small and big blinds.
Everyone gets two cards face down, their hole cards.
Preflop betting starts with the player left of the big blind.
The flop: three cards face up in the middle, then a round of betting.
The turn: a fourth card, then betting.
The river: a fifth card, then the last round of betting.
The showdown: the players left show their hands, and the best five cards from each player's two plus the five on the board win.
After the flop, betting starts with the first player still in left of the button, so the button acts last on every street. The poker rules page covers the betting itself.
Each street adds cards and then a round of betting. The new card on each street has a gold edge. Your two cards are yours alone; the five on the board are shared by everyone.
The seats
Online games are often six-handed, and each seat has a name. The later you act, the more you have seen before you decide, which is why charts open more hands from the button than from under the gun.
UTG, under the gun: acts 1 of 6 before the flop
MP, middle position: acts 2 of 6 before the flop
CO, cutoff: acts 3 of 6 before the flop
BTN, button: acts 4 of 6 before the flop
SB, small blind: acts 5 of 6 before the flop
BB, big blind: acts 6 of 6 before the flop
A six-handed table. The button moves one seat to the left after every hand, and the two blinds move with it. The number on each seat is its turn to act before the flop.
How to deal Texas Hold'em
Shuffle, then have the player on your right cut the deck.
Deal one card at a time face down, clockwise, starting with the small blind and ending with the button. Go round twice.
When preflop betting ends, burn the top card face down, then turn three cards face up for the flop.
Burn one and deal the turn. Burn one and deal the river.
At the showdown, read each hand that is shown, push the pot to the winner and move the button one seat left.
Heads up, with only two players, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop and last after it. A burn card keeps anyone from seeing a marked or flashed top card. A full hand uses two cards per player, three burns and five on the board:
Cards one hand of Hold'em uses
Players
Cards used
Left in the deck
2
12
40
3
14
38
4
16
36
5
18
34
6
20
32
7
22
30
8
24
28
9
26
26
10
28
24
The odds of your two cards
There are 1,326 ways to be dealt two cards from 52. Some starts come up far less often than new players expect:
The chance of being dealt each kind of start
Your two cards
Ways
Chance
About
A pocket pair
78
5.88%
1 in 17
Two suited cards
312
23.53%
1 in 4
At least one ace
198
14.93%
1 in 7
Ace-king, suited or not
16
1.21%
1 in 83
Pocket aces
6
0.45%
1 in 221
On the flop, a pocket pair such as 77 makes three of a kind or better 12.0% of the time, about 1 in 8. Two suited cards such as 87s flop a flush 0.82% of the time and a four-card flush draw 10.9%. Every hand has its own page with these figures in the list of all 169 starting hands.
Why the number of players matters
The best start, pocket aces, has 85.1% against one random hand and 49.1% against five. Each extra player is another chance that someone makes a straight, a flush or two pair. This is why you play fewer hands at a full table.
for pocket aces all in before the flop against one to eight random hands. Hover a dot for its value.
