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The rules of a Texas Hold em hand is simple but elegant. The playing order of the game is determined by the dealer button. The button represent the person whoever is the dealer of the hand and rotates clockwise each hand changing the dealer and the blinds. Small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer. Big blind is posted by the player to the left of the small blind and usually two times the small blind and equal to the minimum bet. In Texas Hold’em Tournaments, the blind periodically increase as the game progresses.

The dealer with the button in front of him deals two-cards face down to every player, starting from the small blind and dealing clockwise. These two-cards are the player’s pocket or hole cards. Texas hold’em is a closed poker game. These cards are not revealed until the showdown and sometimes you may possibly not reveal them at all if others players fold.

The game is usually played with a 52-deck with no jokers inside and the rankings of the player hands are shown below.

The hand begins with a “pre-flop” betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. Note that the blinds are considered “live” in the pre-flop betting round, meaning that they contribute to the amount that the blind player must contribute, and that, if all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

After the pre-flop betting round, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer’s left and continue clockwise.

After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker hand they can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player’s best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers are used to settle ties. The card’s numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in Hold’em. The last player to bet is the first player to show their hand.