Poker - Texas Hold'em

Players and equipment

Two to ten players, a standard 52-card deck, chips, and a marker for the dealer button. The two players to the left of the button post the small and big blinds before any cards are dealt. The blinds are forced bets, the small one half the big one, so there is something in the pot on every hand; the button moves one seat left after each. SquareScores is a chip ledger for the game: it keeps every stack, bet and pot, and it deals nothing and never sees a card.

The deal

Two private cards to each player. Then three community cards face up (the flop), a fourth (the turn) and a fifth (the river), with a round of betting after each. A hand ends early if everybody but one player folds.

Play

The first round starts to the left of the big blind; every round after it starts to the left of the button. Check, bet, call, raise or fold as usual. To check is to pass when nobody has bet; to bet is to put chips in first; to call is to match the bet in front of you; to raise is to match it and add more; to fold is to give up your cards and any claim on the pot. A raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise, and the blinds count as the first bet, so preflop the minimum raise is to twice the big blind. A player with fewer chips than the bet may still call for everything they have — all in — and the rest of the betting goes to a side pot.

Scoring

Your hand is the best five cards available from your two and the five in the middle. You may use both of your cards, one of them, or neither — if the five community cards make the best hand you can assemble, that is your hand, and so is everybody else's.

What beats what

Best first:

Straight flush

A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠

Five in sequence, all one suit

Four of a kind

9♣ 9♦ 9♥ 9♠ K♦

Four cards of one rank

Full house

Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ 4♣ 4♠

Three of one rank and two of another

Flush

K♥ J♥ 8♥ 6♥ 3♥

Five of one suit, out of sequence

Straight

9♦ 8♠ 7♥ 6♣ 5♦

Five in sequence, mixed suits

Three of a kind

7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 4♠

Three cards of one rank

Two pair

J♣ J♠ 5♥ 5♦ 9♠

Two of one rank and two of another

One pair

10♥ 10♣ A♠ 8♦ 3♣

Two cards of one rank

High card

A♦ Q♠ 9♥ 5♣ 2♥

None of the above

Kickers settle hands of the same rank, suits never do, and identical hands split the pot. A kicker is a card beside the hand that is not part of it: two players with a pair of tens each are separated by their highest other card. The ace can top a straight or start one from ace to five, never both at once.

A worked hand

Three players: Ben has 60 chips, Alice 400 and Cara 500. Alice has the button, so Ben posts the small blind of 5 and Cara the big blind of 10.

Before the flop

Pot 90

Alice raises to 30; Ben and Cara both call

The flop

Main pot 180, side pot 140

Ben bets his last 30 and is all in; Alice raises to 100; Cara calls

The turn

Side pot 340

Alice bets 100 and Cara calls; Ben has nothing left to bet

The river

Side pot 340

Alice and Cara both check

Showdown

Ben takes 180, Cara 340

Ben's three nines beat both; Cara's two pair beats Alice's ace high

Ben put 60 in, so the most he can win is 60 from each of the other two: the 180 main pot. Everything Alice and Cara bet beyond that goes into a side pot only they can win, whatever Ben's cards are. So Ben takes 180 with the best hand, Cara takes the 340 side pot with the second best, and Alice loses the 230 she put in. Had Ben lost, Cara would have taken both. SquareScores works the side pots out as the chips go in.

Ending

The last player left, or the best hand shown at the river, takes the pot. Cash play ends whenever people want to stop; a tournament ends when one player has everything, with the blinds rising on a clock to make sure it does.

Starting hands

Most two-card hands should be folded before the flop; the game is largely won by whoever folds the most bad ones. Play a pair, an ace with a high card beside it, two high cards, or two cards next to each other in rank and of one suit. Raise with a high pair rather than call: a pair of aces loses more often than it wins against five callers, and is the best hand nearly every time against one. A pair in your hand makes three of a kind on the flop about one time in eight; two cards of one suit make a flush by the river about one time in fifteen.

Position

The later you act, the more you know. The button acts last on every round after the flop and sees what everybody else does first, so a hand that is a fold in an early seat is a raise on the button. The blinds are the worst seats: chips already in, first to act after the flop, so most hands there should be given up cheaply.

Pot odds, said as chances

A call is worth making when your chance of winning is better than the price. If the pot is 100 and it costs you 20 to call, you are paying one part to win five, so you need to win more often than one time in six. Four cards to a flush on the flop: nine unseen cards make it, about one chance in five on the next card and one in three by the river. Four to a straight open at both ends: eight cards, about one in six a card and just under one in three by the river. One exact card needed in the middle: one in twelve a card, one in six by the river. So the flush draw is a call at 20 into 100; the middle straight is not.

Bet sizing

Bet in proportion to the pot, not to your stack. Half to three quarters of the pot is a normal bet; a tenth of it gives every draw the right price and might as well be a check. Before the flop, raise to about three times the big blind, plus one more for each player already in. Too small teaches the table to call with anything; too large is only called by hands that beat you.

Reading the board

Look at what the shared cards could make before you look at what you have. A pair on the board means somebody may have a full house; three of one suit mean a flush is possible; four in a run mean anybody with one more has a straight. Bluff only where the story holds — a river bet that says flush is believable if you would have bet the flop and turn with the draw — and bluff one player, never three.

Limit hold'em

Every bet and raise is a fixed size: a small bet before the flop and on it, twice that on the turn and river, so a 10 and 20 game is bet in tens and then in twenties. A round is usually capped at one bet and three raises: a game of thin edges and many showdowns.

Pot limit

The biggest raise allowed is the size of the pot after your call. With 100 in the pot and a bet of 20 to you, calling makes it 140, so you may raise by 140 more, to 160 in all.

Short deck

The twos, threes, fours and fives are taken out, leaving 36 cards. A flush beats a full house, because with nine cards of a suit it is the harder hand to make, and the ace stands in for the missing five in a straight from ace to nine.

Heads-up

Two players. The button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, then last on every round after it, so the advantage changes hands every deal. Far more hands are worth playing against one opponent, and a single pair often wins.

Home-game blinds off

Some tables post no blinds: everybody antes one chip, or nobody puts in anything, and the seat to the dealer's left opens the betting. A table without blinds still needs a smallest bet, agreed before the first deal, for a raise to be measured against.

Does a flush beat a straight in poker?

Yes. A flush, five cards of one suit, beats a straight, five in a run of mixed suits, because it is harder to make. From the top: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.

Can you use both of your own cards in Texas Hold'em?

You may use both, one, or neither: your hand is the best five of the seven you can see. If the five shared cards are the best hand you can make, everybody still in shares it and the pot is split, unless a private card improves on it.

What is a kicker?

A card that is not part of the hand itself but decides between two hands of the same rank. If two players both have a pair of kings, the one whose other cards are higher wins. A full house or a straight has no kicker, because all five cards are the hand.

How much can you raise in Texas Hold'em?

In the ordinary no-limit game, at least as much as the previous bet or raise and at most everything in front of you. Before the flop the big blind counts as the first bet, so the smallest raise is to twice it. Limit and pot-limit games cap it.

What is a side pot?

A second pot made when one player runs out of chips in the middle of a hand. A player who is all in can only win what they matched: their own stake and the same amount from each opponent. Everything bet beyond that goes into a side pot only the players still holding chips can win.

Do you have to show your cards at the end?

Only to claim the pot. If everybody else folds, the last player left takes it and may throw their cards away unseen. At a showdown the last bettor shows first, and anybody who cannot beat it may fold face down.