How to Play Poker
Learn Texas Hold'em in 5 minutes
Players start each deal with a fixed amount of money available to bet, represented by a stack of chips.
On every deal, each player is dealt two cards face down.
Only you know these cards.
The game also features five community cards, dealt face up.
This is known as the board.
Your hand is the best five card combination from your cards and the board.
Your best five card combination may be just the board.
Cards are ranked from ace to deuce, strongest to weakest.
Hands are also ranked. Starting from the weakest, they are...
High Card
Five unique ranks with mixed suits.
Ties are broken by the highest ranking combination.
One Pair
Two cards have matching ranks.
Ties are broken by comparing non‑paired cards.
The card that makes the difference is called a kicker.
Two Pair
Two ranks are paired.
Three of a Kind
Three cards share the same rank.
Straight
Five cards that line up in ranking with mixed suits.
The higher the rank, the stronger the straight.
An ace can be used in two straights:
Ace-high straight
5-high straight
Flush
Five cards share the same suit.
Ties are broken by the highest ranking combination.
Full House
Three of a kind with a pair.
Four of a Kind
Four cards have the same rank.
Straight Flush
The strongest hand is a straight of the same suit.
The strongest straight flush is a royal flush.
It's so rare that you can play hundreds of hours and see it a couple times, maybe.
Poker Hand Rankings
Making strong hands is important but poker is ultimately about winning the most money from your hands.
Let's see how this works with an example.
Each hand starts from a dealer button.
This disk moves clockwise from player to player after each hand.
The first two players after the button are forced to start the betting with small bets known as the blinds (blind bets).
These bet sizes are fixed, with the big blind usually double the small blind.
Play starts with the player after the blinds.
This player may fold, call or raise.
Fold - Give up your cards. You can't win the pot but you don't have to commit more money. Wait until the next hand to play again.
Call - Match the last bet. Calling lets you stay in the hand if no one else raises the bet.
Raise - Make a new or larger bet. This requires more from your stack but forces everyone to commit more to stay in the hand.
This player chooses to fold.
It's our turn and we have ace-queen.
This is a great starting hand. Let's raise.
The player in the small blind folds.
They're out but their bet stays in the pot.
The player in the big blind calls our bet.
We now see the first set of community cards.
The first 3 cards are revealed at the same time. This is called the flop.
This is a new betting round and play starts clockwise from the button.
Since the small blind already folded, the player in the big blind goes first.
They check.
This is a call for zero. Because it's a new betting round, the current bet is zero. Checking just passes the turn to bet.
We have top pair with top kicker.
This is a strong hand. Let's raise $8.
Big blind calls our bet.
The next community card is revealed.
This is called the turn.
This is another betting round.
Big blind checks to us again.
They checked twice. We likely have the best hand. The pot is larger so let's bet bigger.
Let's raise $20.
Big blind calls our bet again.
The last community card is revealed.
This is called the river.
Big blind checks to us one more time.
No straights or flushes are possible.
We only lose to a few unlikely three of a kind or two pair type hands.
Given the check on the river, we should bet again to extract more from a weaker hand.
Let's raise small to attract a call.
Big blind folds. They show 6-4 diamonds.
They missed a straight, flush and even a straight flush. They were waiting for their draw this whole time.
We win the hand and collect the pot. Nice!
We can choose to give up our cards without showing because our opponents folded.
The button moves clockwise.
The game continues with another hand.
That's it for the basics.
Good luck!
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