Texas holdem rules: how to play hold'em, step by step

Key facts

Each player gets two hole cards; five community cards follow in three stages (flop, turn, river). Your hand is the best five of those seven cards.
There are up to four betting rounds, starting left of the blinds before the flop and left of the dealer button after it.
The house earns from commission, not from the cards. Queensland caps it at 10% of the pot (rounded down to a multiple of $10), and an ACT option takes 5% of pots over $19, rounded down.
There are 1,326 starting hand combinations but only 169 distinct types: 13 pairs, 78 suited and 78 offsuit.
In our exact calculations, A-A beats K-K 81.3% of the time all in before the flop, and A-K offsuit is a 43.6% underdog to Q-Q.

Texas holdem rules in one paragraph

Texas hold'em is played with one 52-card deck. Each player gets two private cards (hole cards), and five shared community cards are dealt face up in stages. There are up to four rounds of betting. At the end, the best five card hand made from any of your seven cards wins the pot, or the pot goes to the last player left if everyone else folds. Players compete against each other; the casino just deals and takes a commission.

How to play Texas holdem, step by step

This sequence follows schedule 10 of the Queensland Casino Gaming Rule and the ACT's approved Poker Hold-em rules for Casino Canberra.

The button and blinds. A dealer button marks the nominal dealer for the hand. The two players to its left post the small blind and the big blind, compulsory bets that seed the pot. The button moves one seat clockwise after every hand.
Hole cards. Everyone receives two cards face down, one at a time, starting left of the button.
First betting round. The player after the big blind acts first and may call, raise or fold. Action goes clockwise until all remaining bets are equal.
The flop. The dealer burns a card face down (Queensland requires this before the flop) and turns three community cards face up. Second betting round, starting with the first active player left of the button. Now a player may also check if nobody has bet.
The turn. A fourth community card, then a third betting round.
The river. A fifth community card, then the final betting round.
Showdown. Under the ACT rules, the player who was called in the last round shows first; others show if they can match or beat it. The best hand wins. Equal hands split the pot.

Your hand can use both hole cards, one, or none: Queensland's rule book allows the two hole cards with three community cards, one hole card with four, or all five community cards. For which hands beat which, see poker hand rankings.

Betting actions and limits

Action	Meaning
Check	Pass without betting, only if no one has bet this round
Bet	Put chips in first in a round
Call	Match the current bet
Raise	Increase the bet; under the ACT rules a raise must be at least the size of the previous bet or raise in pot limit and no limit games
Fold	Give up the hand and any chips already in the pot
All in (tap out)	Bet your remaining table stake; you can then win only the pots formed up to that point

The ACT rules let the casino run the game as no limit, half pot or full pot (pot limit), and in a full pot game the dealer counts the amount needed to call before working out the maximum raise. A player who cannot cover a bet goes all in, any extra betting between the others forms a side pot, and the all in player is eligible only for the pots they contributed to.

A few table rules from the ACT approval surprise newcomers: players may not agree to split a pot between themselves, a casino can put players on a 40-second clock, and any odd chip in a split pot goes to the winner closest clockwise to the button.

You play against other players, so the casino's income is commission (rake) or a fee for your seat. The two rule books set it differently.

Queensland. Commission may be no more than 10% of the highest amount in the pot that is wholly divisible by 10. A pot over 100 times the table's minimum wager is treated as exactly 100 times. The casino may charge less, or cap it per table per hour, if it tells players first. It may instead charge a participation fee, a seating fee or a time fee.

ACT. The casino uses one of two scales: nil on pots up to $19, then 5% of the pot rounded down to the whole dollar; or nil up to $9, then 10% rounded down, allowed only on games with a maximum table stake of $500 or less. Both run up to an approved maximum. Commission can also be charged by time.

Worked examples, at the most the rules allow:

Pot	Queensland maximum (table minimum $2)	ACT 5% scale	ACT 10% scale
$18	$1 (10% of $10)	nil	$1
$45	$4	$2	$4
$87	$8	$4	$8
$150	$15	$7	$15
$600	$20 (pot treated as $200)	$30, unless the approved maximum is lower	$60, unless capped

None of the rules take commission from a pot made only of blinds, or count an uncalled bet as part of the pot. Over a session, rake comes out of every pot, so a player who merely breaks even against the table still loses the commission.

Starting hands: the counts and the classic match-ups

Two cards from 52 can be dealt 1,326 ways, which group into 169 kinds of starting hand:

Kind	How many types	Combinations of each	Total combinations	Share
Pairs (2-2 to A-A)	13	6	78	5.9%
Suited, two ranks (e.g. A-K suited)	78	4	312	23.5%
Offsuit, two ranks (e.g. A-K offsuit)	78	12	936	70.6%

How the famous hands fare when the money goes in before the flop, from our exact calculation over all 1,712,304 possible boards:

Hand	Against	Winning share (ties split)
A♠ A♥	K♦ K♣	81.3%
A♥ K♦	A♣ Q♠	74.0%
A♠ K♠	8♦ 7♦	60.7%
A♥ K♦	J♠ 10♠	58.8%
2♠ 2♣	A♥ K♦	53.0%
A♠ K♠	Q♥ Q♦	46.2%
K♠ Q♠	A♥ 2♦	46.1%
A♥ K♦	Q♥ Q♦	43.6%
7♥ 2♦	A♠ A♣	12.6%

Even a small pair is a slight favourite over two unpaired high cards, and A-K suited is worth about 2.6 points more against Q-Q than A-K offsuit. Domination is the big killer: A-K against A-Q wins almost three times in four because the shared ace leaves the A-Q drawing to its queen. Our poker odds guide turns this into outs and pot odds for every street.

Pundit tip: position matters as much as cards. Acting last on the flop, turn and river means you see what everyone else does first, which is why the button is the best seat at the table.

Where hold'em fits

Texas hold'em is the base for several house-banked games where you play the dealer instead of other players, such as casino holdem and ultimate texas holdem. Its four-card cousin is omaha poker, where you must use exactly two of your hole cards.

Playing Texas holdem in Australia

Hold'em for money is a casino table game here. Queensland's government says poker can lawfully be played within its four casinos, and warns that poker for money in other public places may be an unlawful game; other states have their own rules. Online, real money hold'em sits inside the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 ban on online casino-style games for people in Australia. Players are not the target of the offence, but an offshore poker room leaves you without local protection. Read online poker Australia before you consider one, and keep the gambling help australia page handy if poker stops being a game.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you play Texas holdem?

Two players post blinds, everyone gets two cards face down, and there is a round of betting. Then three community cards (the flop), another betting round, a fourth card (the turn), betting, a fifth card (the river) and a final round. Remaining players show down and the best five card hand wins the pot.

Can you use both hole cards, one or none in Texas holdem?

Any combination. The Queensland rules define your hand as the best of your two hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and four community cards, or all five community cards.

Who acts first in Texas holdem?

Before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind. On the flop, turn and river, the first active player to the left of the dealer button. The button moves one seat clockwise after each hand.

How much does the casino take from a poker pot?

In Queensland, no more than 10% of the largest multiple of $10 in the pot, with pots above 100 times the table minimum treated as 100 times the minimum. One ACT option charges 5% of pots over $19, rounded down to the dollar, up to an approved maximum.

Is Texas holdem poker legal in Australia?

In person, at licensed casinos, yes: Queensland allows poker in its four casinos, for example. Real money online hold'em is a casino-style game that cannot legally be offered to people in Australia.

Sources

Official pages we relied on. If anything here has changed, tell us via the contact page and we fix it.