How a hand of poker works

Alright partner, lesson 1. Tex is doing the talking.

The setup

Texas Hold'em is the poker variant that runs the world. Six or nine players sit around a table. Each player is dealt two cards face down, called the hole cards. Over the course of the hand, five community cards are dealt face up in the middle. The goal is to make the best five-card hand using any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards.

That part is simple. The interesting part is the betting.

Blinds and the button

There is no ante in most cash games. Instead, two players post forced bets before any cards are dealt. The player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind, usually one chip. The player to their left posts the big blind, usually two chips. The dealer button rotates one seat to the left after every hand, so the blinds rotate with it. Everyone pays in turn.

The big blind is the baseline. When we say a hand was opened to three big blinds, we mean someone raised to three times the big blind amount. When we say a player has 100 big blinds, we mean their stack is 100 times the big blind. Big blinds, abbreviated bb, are the unit of measurement in poker because they scale.

The four streets

A hand is played out across four rounds of betting, called streets:

• Preflop. Each player gets their two hole cards. Action starts with the player to the left of the big blind and goes clockwise. Each player can fold, call the current bet, or raise.
• The flop. Three community cards are dealt face up. Another round of betting, starting with the first active player to the left of the dealer.
• The turn. A fourth community card is dealt. Another round of betting.
• The river. The fifth and final community card is dealt. The last round of betting.

If two or more players are still in the hand after the river betting, there is a showdown. Hands are revealed. The best five-card hand wins the pot.

Who acts when

On preflop, the player under the gun (UTG, to the left of the big blind) acts first. The big blind acts last, because they have already put a bet in. On every street after the flop, the player to the left of the dealer button who is still in the hand acts first, and the player on the button acts last.

This is why the button is the best seat at the table. They see what every other player does before they have to decide. That is a structural advantage that pays for itself in every single hand.

What you can do on your turn

When the action is on you, you have a finite set of choices:

• Fold. Throw your hand away. Lose what you have already put in. You are done with this hand.
• Check. Pass the action to the next player without putting in any chips. Only legal if no bet has been made yet on this street.
• Call. Match the current bet. Stay in the hand.
• Bet or raise. Put more chips in. If there is no existing bet on this street, it is a bet. If there is, you are raising it.

Most of poker is the order in which you make these choices, against opponents who are making their own. Everything else in this course is a more precise way of thinking about those choices.

Tex gut-check

One question, partner. Pass it and lesson 2 unlocks.

It is your turn pre-flop. The big blind is one dollar, you are under the gun, no one has acted. Your options are which three of these?

• Fold, call one dollar, or raise to at least two dollars
• Fold, check, or raise to any amount you like
• Call any amount, check, or muck the hand silently
• Tap the table, throw the cards, or change seats

Continue to lesson 2Try a different answer