Texas Hold ‘Em is a community card game. Every player is dealt two cards face down, and then five community cards are dealt in the middle of the table.

The five community cards are used by every player, with the goal of using any combination of the five cards on the board and the two in your hand to make the best possible poker hand.

Hold ‘Em is played with a dealer button in both casinos and home games to mark who the dealer is (or who the dealer would be, in case where a casino or Internet poker site provides a dealer). The button rotates clockwise around the table after every hand. This is important to take note of, since the “dealer” is always the last player to act, gaining the greatest positional advantage during the hand.

Hold’em is typically played as a Limit Hold’em game (LHE) with fixed betting amounts each round, or as No Limit Hold’em (NL), when players are allowed to bet any amount, on any round, with no limits on what the maximum bet may be.

The Blinds

Hold ‘Em is played with two forced bets before every hand begins, which are called blinds. Hold ‘Em has two blinds: the big blind, and the small blind.

The small blind (SB) is equal to 1/2 of the lower limit bet size, and the big blind (BB) is equal to the lower limit bet size. If you’re playing a $2/4 fixed limit game, the SB is $1 and the BB is $2.

Before any cards are dealt, the player to the left of the dealer button is required to post the SB, while the player to the left of that person must post the BB. These bets count towards each player’s first round bet.

Betting Rounds

There are four rounds of betting.

In limit Texas Hold Em (HE) game, all bets must be equal to the size of the low limit bet for the first two betting rounds.

In the last two rounds of betting, all bets must be equal to the high limit bet. For example. if you’re playing $1/2 HE, all bets in the first two rounds will be in increments of 1 dollar, and all bets in the last two rounds will be in increments of 2 dollars. A maximum of 3 raises are allowed per betting round.

1. Preflop - The player to the immediate left of the dealer button is forced to post the small blind. The player to the left of the small blind is alsoforced to post the big blind.
   Two cards are dealt to every player face down, starting with the small blind. The action begins with the player to the immediate left of the big blind, who must decide to fold, call (by putting in a bet equal to the big blind, or raise (by putting in twice the big blind). Action proceeds clockwise around the table. The small blind may call adding the remaining half of the low limit bet the player was already forced to put in. The big blind may simply check (assuming nobody has raised), as he has already put in the full size of the first round bet by posting the big blind.
2. The Flop - Three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. Starting with this round (and in all remaining betting rounds), the small blind is the first to act. Play proceeds in a clockwise manner around the table, with the player sitting on the dealer button last to act. All bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.
3. The Turn - A fourth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Play proceeds as in the previous round. The only difference is that bets and raises must now be equal to the high limit bet size.
4. The River - A fifth and final card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Play proceeds as in the previous round. All bets and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size.

Showdown - Anyone who has not folded after the last round of betting will now have the option of showing their hand, with the best hand winning the pot. The person who bet last is required to be the first to show their hand, with the action proceeding clockwise from there. Each remaining player must either show their hand or muck it, forfeiting all chances to win.