Texas Hold'em (or simply, "Holdem") is the best known and most popular form of poker today.

In Texas Hold'em, each poker player is dealt two cards (“hole cards”), that belong only to that player. Five community cards are dealt face-up on the board.
The best 5-card hand using any combination of the five community cards and two hole cards wins. To view the rankings of poker hands, visit the poker hand rankings page.

Each new hand begins with a small blind, a big blind, and a round of betting. The betting rules vary depending upon whether the game is Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit.

• No Limit Texas Holdem: A player can bet all of his chips at any time.
• Pot Limit Texas Holdem: A player can bet what is in the pot.
• Limit Texas Holdem: There is a specified betting limit in each game and on each round of betting.

The Blinds
All Hold 'em games include a small blind and a big blind. These are forced bets, and are determined by the position of the button. Before the game begins, the player immediately clockwise the button posts the ‘small blind’ and the player immediately clockwise from the small blind posts the ‘big blind’. The button moves clockwise around the table, giving each player a turn being the button, small blind, and big blind.

Now each player receives his or her two hole cards.

After seeing his or her two hole cards, each player now has the option to play his or her hand by calling or raising the big blind.

The Flop
Once the first round of betting is complete, the dealer then puts out the first three community cards, or "the flop". There is a round of betting.

The Turn
The dealer then puts out the fourth community card or "the turn". There is a round of betting.

The River
The dealer then puts out the fifth community card or "the river". There is a final round of betting.

After the last round of betting, the software will award the pot to the best hand.

Betting Limits

No Limit Texas Hold'em
In a $10/$20 No Limit game, the small blind is $10 and the big blind is $20.

• Minimum raise: In No Limit game, a raise must either equal or exceed the previous bet or raise. As an example, if the first player to act bets $10 then the second player must raise a minimum of $10 (total bet of $20).
• Maximum raise: The size of your stack (your chips on the table).

Pot Limit Texas Hold’em
In a $10/$20 Pot Limit game, the small blind is $10 and the big blind is $20.

• Minimum raise: In Pot Limit game, a raise must either equal or exceed the previous bet or raise. As an example, if the first player to act bets $10 then the second player must raise a minimum of $10 (total bet of $20).
• Maximum raise: The size of the pot, which is defined as the total of the active pot plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active player must first call before raising.

As an example, in a $10/20 Pot Limit game, the maximum pot-sized raise for the first player to act would be $70(($10 small blind + $20 big blind + $20 call + $20 raise), which would make the total pot $100. If the next player wants into the hand, he or she must call $70. If the next player wants to raise the maximum, he or she would bet $240, which equals the size of the pot ($100) plus a $140 raise ($70 call + $70 raise)

Limit Texas Holdem
In Limit game, each betting round has a fixed bet. In $5/$10, the small blind is $2.50, the big blind is $5, and the first two rounds of betting are in increments of $5. The last two rounds of betting are in increments of $10. There is a maximum of four bets allowed per player during any betting round. This includes a bet, raise, re-raise, and cap (final raise), but in No Limit Texas Hold'em and Pot Limit Texas Hold'em there is no limit to the number of raises that a player can make.

In Tournament Hold 'em, the blinds will increase after timed intervals. And while Texas Hold 'em generally does not have antes, in tournaments, the later rounds will include antes based upon the escalating betting limits.