Texas Hold'em from zero: the goal, the hand rankings, and every street from the blinds to the showdown. Then play your first hand.
Everyone gets two cards face down; only you see yours. First decision: play or fold. This stage is called “preflop”.
Texas Hold'em is a betting game with a simple goal: win the pot. You do that by making the best five-card hand at showdown, or by betting so everyone else folds before then. You are dealt two private cards. Five shared community cards come out in the middle. Your hand is the best five you can build from those seven.
Most pots never reach a showdown. Someone bets, everyone else folds, and the pot is theirs. That is why Hold'em is a game of betting first and cards second: you are always choosing how much to risk against how likely you are to hold the best hand.
When two players reach a showdown, the hand rankings decide who wins, from a royal flush at the top down to a lone high card. Learn these first. Every later choice, from which cards to play to whether to call a bet, rests on knowing what beats what.
A hand runs through four betting rounds, called streets. A dealer button marks who acts as the dealer; it moves one seat clockwise after every hand, so the blinds and the order rotate around the table. Here is a single hand, start to finish.
Before any cards are dealt, the two players left of the button post forced bets: the small blind and the big blind. These seed the pot and give everyone a reason to play. In a tournament the blinds rise over time, which is the game's clock and what forces the action.
Everyone gets their two cards. Starting left of the big blind, each player folds, calls the big blind, or raises. Position matters more here than anywhere: the later you act, the more you have seen. Fold the junk, raise your strong hands, and play tighter the earlier you sit.
The dealer burns one card and turns three face up in the middle, shared by everyone. Now you can see most of your hand. A fresh betting round opens with the first active player left of the button, who may check or bet. This is where hands take shape and draws are born.
A fourth community card is dealt and another round of betting follows. Bets usually grow here: the pot is bigger and only one card is left to come. If you are chasing a draw, the turn is where the price to keep chasing goes up.
The fifth and final community card lands, and the last betting round plays out. No cards are left to come, so every hand is now exactly what it is. This is the street for thin value bets and well-timed bluffs, because nobody can improve anymore.
If two or more players are still in after the river betting, they turn their cards up. The best five-card hand takes the pot. If everyone folded to a bet earlier, there is no showdown at all: the last player standing wins without showing a thing.
That is one hand. The only way it sticks is to play it. Here is a real spot from the pot-odds lesson: your two cards, the board, and a bet to answer. Pick an action and see why it is right, hints on, no pressure.
When the action reaches you, your choices come from a short list. Which ones are on the table depends on whether anyone has bet on this street yet.
You cannot play every hand. Strong starting hands are the big pairs (aces, kings, queens), the big suited cards (ace-king, ace-queen), and hands that make straights and flushes easily, like suited connectors. Weak, unconnected low cards belong in the muck.
Which hands you can open also depends on your seat. Under the gun, with the whole table still to act, play only your best. On the button, with everyone acting before you, you can open far wider. The range charts show exactly what to open from each position.
One player deals, or a house dealer does, but the button says who is on the button for the hand. Starting with the small blind, each player is dealt one card at a time, face down, until everyone has two. Then the first betting round begins.
Between rounds the dealer burns the top card, face down, before dealing the next street: three cards for the flop, one for the turn, one for the river. Burning guards against anyone reading a marked top card. After the hand, the button moves one seat left and the next deal begins.
You get two private cards, then five shared cards come out in three rounds, the flop, turn, and river, with betting between each. Make the best five-card hand, or bet so everyone folds. The best hand at showdown, or the last player left, wins the pot.
Post the blinds, deal two cards to each player, then bet across four streets. On your turn you check, bet, call, raise, or fold. The community cards are shared. At showdown, the best five-card hand from your two cards plus the five on the board wins.
Deal two cards face down to each player, one at a time, starting left of the button. Burn a card, then deal the flop (three cards), burn and deal the turn (one), burn and deal the river (one). There is a round of betting after each deal.
Fold when your hand is likely beaten and the price to continue is worse than your chance of winning. Early position, weak unpaired cards, and facing a big bet with only a draw are the usual times to let it go.
Stick to strong starting hands: big pairs, ace-king and ace-queen, and suited connectors. Play tight from early seats and looser on the button. Folding the rest is not boring, it is how beginners stop bleeding chips.
Both. Luck decides a single hand, but over many hands skill takes over: position, hand selection, pot odds, and knowing when to fold. That is why the same players keep winning over time.