Pokeriad / Learn / How to play
Updated November 2026
Poker is a betting game, and you win the chips in the middle one of two ways: everyone else folds, or you show the best five-card hand at the end. In Texas Hold'em, the game almost everybody plays, you get two private cards, five shared cards come face up, and there are up to four rounds of betting.
That's the whole game. Here it is on one card, and below that you can deal a hand yourself.
A normal 52-card deck with the jokers taken out, some chips, and between two and nine players. Each player starts with a stack of chips, and every hand moves some of those chips around.
One player has the dealer button in front of them. It tells everyone who acts in what order, and it moves one seat to the left after every hand.
There are two ways, and new players forget the first one exists.
You'll only ever have these five choices, and which ones you get depends on whether someone has bet already.
Blinds are forced bets posted before the cards come out, and they give everyone a reason to play. The player just left of the button posts the small blind and the next one posts the big blind.
In a game with $1 and $2 blinds, those two players are in for $1 and $2 before they've seen anything. Stakes are named after the blinds, so that's a "$1/$2 game".
The button moves left every hand, so everyone pays in turn.
Betting always goes clockwise. Before the flop it starts with the player to the left of the big blind, and the big blind goes last, because those chips are already in.
On the flop, turn and river it starts with the first player still in on the left of the button, so the button goes last. Acting last is a real advantage, which is what poker positions is about.
Here's one from start to finish, in a $1/$2 game. Two players end up seeing it through.
You raise to $6. The button and the small blind fold, and the big blind calls.
He checks. You have no pair yet, but any ten makes a straight. You bet $8 and he calls.
He checks. You check too, and the next card is free.
The ten comes and you have the best possible hand. He bets $20, you raise to $60, and he calls.
He shows two queens, for three of a kind. Your straight wins $149, which is $75 more than you put in.
By the river you can see seven cards: your two and the five on the board. You pick the best five. You can use both of your cards, one of them, or none at all.
Everyone else builds a hand from the same five shared cards, so the only thing separating you from them is your two cards. The full order of hands is on our hand rankings page.
Nines full of fives. The king and the two don't play.
From best to worst. If you only learn one thing before your first game, make it this.
In no-limit, the usual format, you can bet anything from the size of the big blind up to every chip in front of you. A raise has to be at least as big as the last bet or raise.
You can only bet what's on the table. If someone bets more than you have, you can still call with what's left, and you can only win as much as you matched. The full rules cover the awkward cases, and side pots shows how the chips get split.
Far fewer than you want to. The cards you start with decide a lot of what happens next, and playing weak ones is the most expensive habit a new player has.
Out of every 100 hands, when everyone before you has folded, from the simplified charts in our trainer
Starting from the first seat means folding 84 hands in 100. That feels strange at first. The preflop charts show exactly which hands make the cut.
The flop misses most of the time too. Holding two different cards, you'll pair at least one of them about 1 time in 3. When you miss and someone bets, folding is usually right, and you've lost very little.
Pick a buy-in, then set the blinds so that each player starts with about 100 big blinds. That gives everyone room to play.
Deal clockwise, one card at a time, and move the button after every hand. Before the flop, turn and river, the dealer takes the top card off the deck and sets it aside. That's the burn card, and it stops anyone from spotting a marked card.
Hold'em is the one to learn first, and once you know it the others come quickly. Omaha gives you four cards. Seven-card stud has no community cards. Five-card draw lets you swap cards, and it's the game most people picture from old movies.
Twelve spots in three rounds: whose turn it is, what you're allowed to do, and who wins.
Two in Texas Hold'em, plus five shared cards on the table. Other games differ: Omaha gives you four.
The rules take about ten minutes. Playing well takes much longer, and that's why people keep coming back.
No. You make the best five from all seven, using two, one or none of yours.
They split the pot. Suits never break a tie.
No. Once there's a bet, you have to call, raise or fold.
In a cash game the chips are real money and you can leave any time. In a tournament everyone starts with the same chips and plays until one player has them all.
The chance of pairing on the flop comes from counting all 19,600 possible flops. The share of hands to raise comes from our trainer's simplified charts: one clear answer per hand, for a six-player game with 100 big blind stacks. The dealer on this page uses random cards.
Send them this page, or save the one-card version.