Rules
Overview
In a game of Texas hold'em poker, each player is dealt two cards face down. These are known as the "hole cards." Throughout several rounds of betting, five more cards are revealed face up in the middle of the table. These face-up cards are called the "community cards." Each player is able to use the community cards in combination with their hole cards to build their best five-card poker hand. The objective is to make your best five-card poker hands using the best available five cards out of the seven total cards bewteen the hole and community cards. This can be done using any combination of your hole cards and community cards. Whoever has the best hand of cards or is last remaining wins the pot. The pot consists of all the chips that have been betted by the end of betting. If the betting causes all but one player to fold, the lone remaining player wins the pot without having to show any cards. This shows that players don't always have to hold the best hand to win the pot. It's possible that a player can "bluff" in order to get others to fold better hands. If two or more players make it all of the way to the showdown after the last community card is dealt and all betting is complete, the only way to win the pot is to have the highest-ranking five-card poker hand.
How to Play
At the start of a game, each player is assigned chips with varying values for betting. One player is indicated as the "dealer" by a small disc called the "button." The first player clockwise from the dealer bets a small blind, while the second will bet a big blind. "Blinds" are forced bets at the start of the round to allow some action for the betting to start. The dealer will shuffle the cards and then deal each player two hole cards, followed by placing five community cards face-down in the center of the table. After all the cards are dealt and the blinds are placed, the round of play may begin. The first round is called the "Pre-flop" where no community cards are shown. The second round is called the "Flop" where three of the five community cards are shown. The third round is called the "Turn" where the forth card is shown. The fourth round is called the "River" where the last card is shown.
After all the community cards are shown, there is one final round of betting, follwed by the "Showdown" where the players show their hands. Whoever has the best hand wins the pot. When the betting starts, each player has the option to call, raise, or fold at their turn. A player must atleast match the previous bet in order to continue play. A "call" is matching the previous bet. A "raise" is increasing the current bet. A "fold" is laying down your hole cards and forfeiting the game for that hand. After the pre-flop round of betting, players have an option to "check" Checking is passing the action to the next player, and is only possible if no betting action has occured beforehand. When a winner is decided at the end, they win the pot, and a new game is started with the dealer rotating clockwise to the next player.
A video on how to shuffle a deck of poker cards is displayed in the bottom right corner.
Learn the best poker hands on the "Hands" page. Learn some poker strategies on the "Strategy" page.