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Poker for beginners: where to start
Updated November 2026
Start with Texas Hold'em, learn what beats what, then learn how your seat changes which hands you can play. Those three things take about a week, and they'll put you ahead of most people at a friendly table.
This page is the order we'd teach it in. Every step links to a full guide with real cards and practice built in.
- How a hand works, about an hour
- What beats what, about an hour
- Your seat at the table, one evening
- Which hands to play, a few days
- How to price a call, a few days
- When to bet after the flop, a couple of weeks
Which game should you learn first?
Texas Hold'em. It's the game in nearly every casino, online room and home game, and everything you learn in it carries over to other forms of poker.
You get two cards of your own, five shared cards come face up, and you make the best five-card hand. If you've never played a hand, read how to play poker first.
Texas Hold'em in numbers
What should you learn first?
Learn the order of the hands until you don't have to think about it. Nobody can make good decisions while they're still working out whether a flush beats a straight.
- Royal flushThe best hand in poker.
- Full houseThree of one rank and two of another. It beats a flush.
- FlushFive of one suit. It beats a straight.
- StraightFive in a row. It beats three of a kind.
The full list with practice is on the hand rankings page, and there's a cheat sheet you can keep on your phone.
Why does your seat matter so much?
The player who acts last sees what everyone else does before deciding. That's worth so much that the charts we train raise 45 hands in 100 on the button and only 16 from the first seat.
Beginners tend to play the same hands from every seat. Fixing that is the fastest improvement there is. Positions explains it.
Hands to raise, per 100
Which hands should you play?
Far fewer than feels natural. Most starting hands lose money if you play them, and you can learn exactly which ones to raise from a chart in a few days.
Start with one seat a day, beginning with the button. The preflop charts page lets you click through each seat.
One seat a day
When is a call worth it?
Compare what you have to pay with what you can win. If he bets half the pot, you need to win 1 time in 4 for the call to break even.
A flush draw with two cards to come gets there 35% of the time, so at that price you've got an easy call. Pot odds walks through it with chips.
What you need to win
What should you do after the flop?
- Bet when you're probably aheadBeginners check too much. Worse hands will pay you.
- Fold when you miss and someone betsTwo different cards miss the flop about 2 times in 3, so this comes up all the time.
- Don't bluff people who call everythingSave your bluffs for players who can fold.
How should you practice?
A few minutes a day beats a long session once a week. Short practice with instant feedback teaches you faster than playing, because in a real game you can make the same mistake for a year and never find out.
Once the basics feel easy, play at the lowest stakes you can find. The goal for the first few months is to make good decisions, and the money comes after that.
A good week
What do beginners get wrong?
- Playing too many handsMost of what you're dealt should go in the muck.
- Calling because it's cheapSmall calls add up fast.
- Judging by resultsA lucky win isn't proof you played it well.
Do you know the basics?
Twelve spots in three rounds.
Questions beginners ask
Is poker hard to learn?
The rules take about an hour. Playing well takes much longer, and you can start enjoying it long before that.
Can I learn poker for free?
Yes. Everything on this site is free, and you can practice without betting anything.
What's the best poker game for beginners?
Texas Hold'em, because it's what you'll find everywhere.
Know someone who wants to learn?
Send them this page, or save the six steps.