Rules of Poker · Chapter 20 · 2026 edition
Texas Hold'em is the game most people mean when they say poker. Each player gets two private cards, five shared cards are dealt face up in the middle, and the best five-card hand from those seven wins. It is also the model for every other flop game in this book: Pineapple (Pineapple), Short Deck (Short Deck (Six-Plus Hold'em)), Irish (Irish), Omaha (Omaha) and their relatives are described by how they differ from Hold'em.
For shared rules, see Betting action (betting), Blinds, antes and bring-ins (blinds), Showdown (showdown), Pots (pots), and Hand rankings (hand rankings).
Hold'em is played with a standard 52-card deck and no jokers, by two to ten players. Because each player uses only two private cards, even a ten-player table needs just 25 cards plus burns, so the deck never runs short.
The dealer gives each player two cards face down, one at a time, starting with the player to the left of the button and ending with the button. These are the player's hole cards: nobody else sees them unless they are shown.
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" (introduction).
The shared cards, called the board, are dealt face up in the middle in three stages, each followed by a betting round:
In a card room the dealer burns (discards face down) one card before each stage, so nobody can gain from a marked or glimpsed top card. Errors in dealing the board are The deal and misdeals.
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" (introduction).
Hold'em is normally played with two blinds and no ante. The player to the left of the button posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind, which is usually the size of the smallest bet; the small blind is usually half of it. In a $1/$2 game the blinds are $1 and $2. Robert's Rules notes the game can also be played with one blind, three or more, an ante, or blinds plus an ante; tournaments commonly add an ante in later levels. How blinds work in general, including missed and dead blinds and straddles, is Blinds, antes and bring-ins.
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Button and Blind Use" (introduction) and Section 5, "Holdem" (introduction).
On the first betting round the action starts with the player to the left of the big blind and goes clockwise. The blinds count as bets already made, so the small blind needs only the difference to call. The big blind acts last and keeps the option to raise even when everyone has just called.
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Rules for Using Blinds" rule 9.
On the flop, the turn and the river, the first player still holding cards to the left of the button acts first, and the button (or the player nearest it on the right) acts last. That position advantage is why the button moves one seat every hand (Blinds, antes and bring-ins).
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Button and Blind Use" (introduction).
With only two players, the usual blind order flips. The player on the button posts the small blind and the other player posts the big blind. The button acts first before the flop and last on every later street. This is the rule in Robert's Rules and in the TDA's tournament rules alike.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Rules for Using Blinds" rule 3; TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rule 36-C.
When a three-handed game drops to two, the button may have to be placed rather than simply moved. Robert's Rules gives the button to the player who had the big blind most recently, so the other player takes the big blind next. The TDA allows the button to be adjusted for the same reason: no player should post the big blind on two hands in a row.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 4, "Rules for Using Blinds" rule 3; TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rule 36-C.
The same deal works under any betting structure (Betting structures):
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Deal and Betting"; pagat.com, Poker betting, "Limits"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 14, "No Limit and Pot-Limit"; PokerNews, "WSOP Mixed Games Strategy: Limit Omaha Hi-Lo" (Ken Lo, 2018).
At showdown each player makes the best five-card poker hand from their two hole cards and the five board cards. Any combination is allowed: both hole cards with three from the board, one hole card with four from the board, or all five board cards and neither hole card. The two cards you don't use play no part in the result.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" (introduction); pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Showdown".
Using all five board cards is called playing the board. If nobody can improve on the board, every player still in the hand has the same five cards and the pot is split between them. Example: the board is A-A-K-Q-J. One player holds 9-3 and the other 8-2. Neither hole card beats the jack, so both play A-A-K-Q-J and they split. Change the second player's hand to 10-2 and they win outright with a straight.
Source: pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Showdown"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" (introduction).
A hand is always exactly five cards. When two players have the same kind of hand, the higher ranks decide, first the pair or set and then the kickers (the unpaired side cards) in order. A sixth or seventh card never breaks a tie, and neither does suit: the king of spades and the king of hearts are equal. Example: the board is A-A-K-Q-9. A player with J-3 plays A-A-K-Q-J and beats a player with 10-2, who plays A-A-K-Q-10. How hands rank is Hand rankings.
Source: pagat.com, Poker hand ranking, "Standard poker hands"; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "Ties" rule 1.
To claim any part of the pot at showdown you turn both hole cards face up, whether or not they are part of your best hand. The TDA states this directly for a player playing the board, and Robert's Rules requires all of a player's cards to be shown to win any part of a pot. Who shows first and how a pot is awarded are Showdown and Pots.
Source: TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rules 14-A and 20; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "The Showdown" rule 1.
A player who plays the board and tosses their cards in without showing them can lose their share. Robert's Rules says you must declare that you are playing the board before you discard, or you give up any claim to the pot; for tournaments it says to keep your cards and show them if asked. The TDA simply requires the hole cards to be tabled. In practice: if you think the board is your hand, turn your cards over and let them be read.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 5, "Holdem" rule 9; TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rule 20.
If a player calls their hand wrongly ("I've got two pair") but the cards show something better, the cards decide, not the words. Both Robert's Rules and the TDA make verbal claims at showdown non-binding, and both say anyone who sees a hand being misread should speak up. The usual misreads in Hold'em are a straight or flush made entirely on the board, and a fifth board card that improves everyone's hand equally. Deliberately miscalling a hand to make someone fold a winner is treated as cheating (Conduct).
Source: TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rule 13; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "The Showdown" rules 2 and 3.
A player who throws away a winning hand because they misread it usually loses the pot. Under the TDA, cards discarded face down can still be recovered and tabled only while they are clearly identifiable; once they are in the muck (the discard pile) and can't be picked out with certainty, they are dead. Turn your hand face up and let it be read before you give up on it.
Source: TDA 2026 (Version 1.1), Rules 15 and 16-B; Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 3, "The Showdown" rule 2.
A common argument: two players both have a king and one claims the win with the better side card. That only works if the side card is good enough to make the best five. Example: the board is K-Q-J-9-7. One player holds K-5 and the other K-3. Both play K-K-Q-J-9, because the board's queen, jack and nine are all better than either kicker. The pot is split. Had the board been K-9-7-4-2, the 5 would play and win.
Source: pagat.com, Poker hand ranking, "Standard poker hands"; pagat.com, Texas Hold'em, "The Showdown".
A player who believes everyone else has folded sometimes turns their cards over, or throws them away, while a third player still has a decision. Under the TDA, exposing your cards while action is pending doesn't kill your hand, though it can earn a penalty at the end of the hand. Throwing them away is worse: a player who discards believing they've won, while someone is still in, forfeits the pot if the cards can't be identified with certainty. Check who is still in before you act. Acting out of turn in general is Betting action.
pagat.com notes two common home-game habits: leaving out the burn cards, and dealing all five board cards face down at the start, then turning them up at each stage. Neither changes the game, but the face-down board makes it easier for a card to be seen early by accident, so many hosts avoid it. Home games also add customs such as straddles (Blinds, antes and bring-ins) and bomb pots, run it twice and the 7-2 game (Home-game customs). The other games built on Hold'em are Pineapple (Pineapple), Short Deck (Short Deck (Six-Plus Hold'em)) and Irish (Irish).
Rules of Poker, 2026 edition, by MyHomeGame. Free to copy and reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0. How to cite and reuse.