Texas Hold'em in One Sitting: Hand Ranks and How a Hand Plays Out
Ten hand ranks, four betting rounds and one rule about the best five cards. That is most of what a newcomer needs.
The object of the game
Every player receives two private cards. Five more are dealt face up in the middle for everyone to share. Whoever can make the best five-card hand from those seven cards wins the pot, unless everyone else has folded first, in which case the last player standing takes it without showing anything.
Hand ranks, strongest first
- Royal flush: ten to ace, all one suit.
- Straight flush: five cards in sequence, all one suit.
- Four of a kind: four cards of the same rank.
- Full house: three of one rank and two of another.
- Flush: five cards of one suit, not in sequence.
- Straight: five cards in sequence, mixed suits.
- Three of a kind.
- Two pair.
- One pair.
- High card: none of the above.
The full reference, including how ties are broken, is in Wikipedia's list of poker hands.
How a hand unfolds
Pre-flop. Two players post forced bets called blinds. Everyone looks at their two cards and decides to fold, call or raise.
The flop. Three shared cards are turned over, followed by a second round of betting.
The turn. A fourth shared card, and a third round.
The river. The fifth and last shared card, then the final round. Players still in show their cards and the best five-card hand wins.
Two mistakes newcomers make
The first is forgetting that only five cards count. Holding a pair in your hand does not help if the board already shows a better five-card combination that everyone shares. The second is playing too many starting hands. Most pairs of private cards are not worth paying to continue with, and folding costs nothing.
Further reading
For readers who prefer Chinese, there is a step-by-step Texas Hold'em rules guide in Traditional Chinese (德州撲克怎麼玩) that walks through the same hand ranks with examples.