No-Limit Texas Hold'em
No-Limit Texas Hold'em: make the best five-card hand using your two hole cards and five shared community cards.
The deal
- Each player gets two private hole cards. A dealer button marks who deals; the two players to its left post the small and big blind before any cards are dealt.
- Betting happens in four rounds: preflop (after hole cards), the flop (3 community cards), the turn (1 more), and the river (1 more).
Your actions
- Fold — give up your hand and any chance at the pot.
- Check — pass the action without betting, only legal if no one has bet yet this round.
- Call — match the current bet.
- Bet / Raise — put in more chips than the current bet, forcing others to match or fold.
- All-In — bet every chip you have left.
Showdown
- If two or more players remain after the river, hands are revealed and the best five-card hand wins the pot.
- Ties split the pot evenly. Side pots form when a player goes all-in for less than the current bet — they can only win chips they matched.
Quick reference
- Royal Flush > Straight Flush > Four of a Kind > Full House > Flush > Straight > Three of a Kind > Two Pair > One Pair > High Card
- Ace can play low in A-2-3-4-5 ("the wheel") — the only time it's not the highest card.
- Position matters: acting later in a round gives you more information.