The Mechanics

No-Limit Texas Hold’em is said to be a game that takes only a few minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master. Indeed, while the game can involve highly complicated strategy -- especially at the level played by the top pros -- the mechanics are relatively simple to learn.

It’s not surprising that no-limit Texas Hold’em is the most popular form of poker today. The objective of the game is to win all your opponent’s chips. You can win by having the best poker hand, or by betting and forcing all the other players to fold (i.e. discard) their hands.

Hand Ranks

Each player in Texas Hold’em uses a combination of the cards dealt to them and the shared ‘community’ cards to create the best possible 5-card poker hand. Two or more players will compare their holdings if the hand reaches a showdown.

The absolute best hand is a “royal flush,” consisting of A-K-Q-J-10 all of the same suit. Next comes a “straight flush,” which refers to any five consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 9s-8s-7s-6s-5s). “Four of a kind” follows, a hand including all four cards of the same rank.

The next-best hand is a “full house,” which consists of three cards of the same rank plus two more cards of the same rank (“three of a kind” plus a “pair”). After that comes a “flush,” which is any five cards of the same suit. Next best is a “straight” or five consecutive cards such as Q-J-10-9-8.

Moving down the rankings, the next best hand is “three of a kind,” followed by “two pair,” “one pair,” and “no pair” or “high card.” Sometimes a hand with no pair is described by the highest card of the five; for example, a hand of K-J-8-7-4 would be called “king-high.”

Simple Hand Ranks Chart

Buying In, the Button, and Blinds

No-limit Texas Hold’em can be played with as few as two players (“heads up”) or as many as nine or ten (“full ring”). Each player at the table buys into the game for a certain amount and uses the chips bought for betting on hands.

Usually there are limits to how much or how little a player can buy into the game for, indicated as the game’s maximum and minimum “buy-ins.” Once a hand begins, players can only use the chips they bought beforehand when making their bets. In other words, you cannot buy more chips in the middle of a hand if you happen to run out.

Before any cards are dealt or bets placed, the dealer’s button -- usually a small white disc -- is placed before one of the players. The button indicates the order of play once the hand begins, and after every hand it is moved clockwise one seat so every player has a chance to “play the button.” Sometimes this player is also simply called the “button”.

The two players sitting to the immediate left of the button are forced to make small bets prior to any cards being dealt. Since these two players must make bets without having seen any cards, they are referred to as sitting in the “blinds” (for having made these “blind” bets). The amounts of these bets are predetermined and generally indicate the overall stakes of the game being played -- that is, the bigger the blinds, the bigger the game.

The player sitting to the immediate left of the button is referred to as sitting in the “small blind,” while the one sitting to his or her left is in the “big blind.” The small blind is usually one-half the big blind, although that isn’t always the case.

Like with the button, these terms are also used to refer to the players themselves (e.g. “he is the small blind, you are the big blind”).

The Deal and Betting

Next comes the deal. Each player is first dealt two cards face down from a standard 52-card deck, one at a time, in a clockwise fashion starting with the small blind and ending with the player on the button. These are the “hole cards” which the players will use to decide whether or not to play their hands.

The player sitting to the left of the big blind is first to act and has three options: folding, calling the amount of the big blind, or raising. The action then proceeds around the table with each player again either folding, calling the highest amount previously bet, or raising by betting more than the amount of the highest previous bet.

This first round of betting can end in a variety of ways. A player might make a bet that no one wishes to call, and when everyone folds that player wins the hand. Or betting can end when the highest amount bet has been called by the last player to act prior to the bettor, thus closing the action. Also, betting concludes if the only player left to act has already bet all of his or her chips (gone “all in”).

The dealer will next deal the “community cards,” placing them face up in the center of the table. Unless players fold out and a winner is determined beforehand, the dealer will ultimately deal five community cards in three stages. Players will combine their two hole cards (which no one else sees) with the community cards (which everyone sees), using five cards out of the seven to create the best possible poker hand.

As mentioned, the community cards are dealt in three stages. First come three cards at once, called the “flop.” Next comes a fourth card, called “fourth street” or the “turn.” Finally a fifth community card, called “fifth street” or the “river,” completes the deal. In live games the dealer “burns” a card (that is, discards one) prior to dealing each of these post-flop “streets.”

A round of betting follows each stage, meaning that in Hold’em there are four rounds of betting altogether: pre-flop, flop, turn, and river. Betting after the flop follows the same pattern as before the flop, only this time the small blind acts first. If the small blind folded before the flop, the big blind is first to act, and so on around the table. The button (or the last player closest to the button who remains in the hand) gets to act last on all streets after the flop.

After the flop, the first player to act has two options, to bet or not to bet. Not betting is called “checking.” If the player checks, the next player to act can check or bet as well. If a bet is made, then players must call the bet, raise by betting more, or fold. Just like before the flop, betting continues until everyone folds to someone’s bet, or until a bet or raise is called by the last player to act.