Texas Holdem Poker Rules Printable

Rules of Texas Hold’em are simple, but the game’s strategy is always changing. Because of this one must always keep up the pace and never stop learning. Hence, the reason that aggression is so important, especially in no-limit Hold’em since players have the opportunity to make big bets and force their opponents to make decisions for their. Let's now take a closer look at Texas Holdem strategy and the pattern that is essential for beginners to learn. The chart shows how many hands you are supposed to play depending on which position you sit in at the table. Example: You are sitting as player 6 to the left of the dealer button and you have a king of spades and a 7 of spades.

Trying to understand the rules of poker can be confusing, largely due to the many different variants of poker games and the confusingly similar but misleading information on the Internet.

Here we are going to simplify poker rules and explain to you the basic rules and how they vary across different formats of poker games.

Texas Holdem Poker Rules Printable

Types of Poker Games

There are literally hundreds of variants of poker games, most of them are hardly played and the list can probably be cut down to less than 10 games that are regularly played today, the most common being Texas Holdem Poker.

How To Play Texas Hold'em Poker Rules Printable

Most poker games can be broken into 3 categories:

1. Holdem Poker Games – these games share cards between players, so a number of common cards (called community cards) are dealt in the middle of the table which are available for all players to use as part of their hand.
2. Stud Poker Games – some cards are dealt to players “face up” which means all the other players can see them and others are dealt “face down” which means only the player can see them. There are no shared or “community” cards.
3. Draw Poker – each player is dealt a number of cards which only they can see, then throughout the hand they have the opportunity to swap cards for new cards to try and make a winning hand.

Obviously there are different variants of poker games because they all have different rules so it is impossible to comprehensively cover everything in this article.

So….. below you will find the basic poker rules and concepts that apply to most poker games. Read and digest these and then, after you have decided which poker game you want to learn to play you can head over to our Poker Games & Rules section to get a more detailed guide for the game you have chosen.

The Basics …

• Poker games are played with a “deck” of 52 cards.
• Each deck contains four “suits” – hearts, spades, clubs and diamonds.
• Each suit contains 13 cards, the numbers 2 to 10 and then four “picture cards” Jack, Queen, King and Ace.
• Poker card ranks are descending from the Ace, which is the highest to the King, Queen, Jack, then 10 on down to 2.
• The Ace, depending on the game, might be counted as the lowest or highest card.

Betting

Cards are dealt to each player depending on the rules of the individual game you are playing. After the cards are dealt there will be a series of betting rounds where each player in turn is given a choice of the following options.

• Check – you do not wish to bet any chips at the moment and you take the “free” option – this is only an option if someone hasn’t already placed a bet before your turn which removes the free option of checking.
• Bet – You make a bet by selecting an amount of money or “chips” and clicking on bet if you are playing online poker or pushing them towards the middle of the table if you are playing live poker. The bet must be between the minimum and maximum limits in force which we’ll discuss later. Once you have bet then other players must match that bet or they are eliminated from the hand.
• Call – If a player has already placed a bet and you wish to stay in the hand then you must match that bet, you are said to be “calling the bet” or as you would announce “I call”.
• Raise – If a player has already placed a bet then you have the option to place a bigger bet, this is called a “Raise”.
• Fold – If a bet has been made and you don’t want to match that bet then you “fold” your hand. Folding your hand eliminates you from the hand.

Each betting round is complete when all players have either called the highest bet, or folded their hands leaving only one active player (the player who made the highest bet) – then the next cards are dealt and another betting round may start.

How Do I Win?

There are two ways to win a hand of Poker.

1. You make a bet and everybody else folds their hand leaving you the only player left in the hand.
2. You reach the end of all the betting rounds and you hold the strongest poker hand

For more information see our section on the poker hand rankings

How a Hand is made up?

In general there are two types of cards available to players:

1. Hole Cards – these are cards which are dealt to an individual player – they are only available to use in the hand by the player they are dealt to.
2. Community Cards – these are shared cards dealt in the middle of the table and are available for all players to use in their hands.

Depending on the rules of the individual game you are playing, Cards are either dealt “face up” so everyone can see them or “face down” so only the player who they have been dealt to can see them.

How a hand is made up will vary depending on which poker game you are playing, but to give you an idea lets look at an example from the most popular form of Poker – Texas Holdem Poker.

Texas Holdem Rules Printable

In Texas Holdem each player is dealt two “Hole” cards – these cards are dealt face down and only the player knows what the cards are.

Here are the hole cards we have been dealt.

During the course of the hand a total of 5 community cards are dealt “face up” for everyone to see in the middle of the table. These community cards are shared and available for all players to use in their hands.

Here are the community cards:

So there are now a total of 7 cards available to us and we take the best 5 card hand from those 7 cards.

In this hand we have two Aces (a pair) so our best hand is the pair of Aces followed by the next three highest cards:

Summary

The above is a very good introduction to the basic rules of poker and hopefully cuts through some of the confusion on the subject that a normal google search can produce.

Now you have a basic understanding of poker rules you should continue to look through the other articles in the Poker for Beginners section to continue to get a good introduction to poker.Once you have done that then it will be time to choose a game to learn by heading over to our Poker Games & Rules section – most people start out with Texas Holdem as this is the most widely played, but its up to you.

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Texas Holdem is the most popular poker played online, in casinos and around the world in people’s homes. If you’re new to poker then this is the game you want to learn first. Read these basic texas holdem rules and you’ll be playing confidently in no time.

This is where we would normally give you a table showing where you could play texas holdem, but every single site offers it so instead let us direct you to our top poker sites for the best places to play online.

The Button and Blinds

The order the players receive their cards in is determined by the clockwise rotation of a ‘dealer button’ which is usually referred to as simply ‘the button’. The two players to the left of the button place out a bet before the cards are dealt. These bets are known as ‘the blinds’, and are designed to create action. After all, if there is no money in the pot, who wants to play? The player immediately to the left of the button is called ‘the small blind’ and posts an amount typically equal to one half the minimum bet. The player to their left (two seats left of the button) posts ‘the big blind’, equal to one full bet. So, in a limit game with stakes of $2/$4, the blinds would be $1 and $2 (in a no-limit game the blinds would be $2/$4). The dealer button moves one seat to the left (clockwise) with each new hand that is dealt.

Pre-Flop

Players receive two cards face down that are known as their hole cards, beginning with the small blind and ending with the button. When all cards are dealt out the betting action begins with the player to the left of the big blind. This position has a special name in poker – Under the Gun. This round of betting is known as Pre-Flop. Each player acts in turn in a clockwise direction and has the option to call, raise or fold. Most poker rooms will limit the number of raises that can be made in each round, usually to three or four raises. When the action reaches the small blind they have the option to fold, raise or complete their blind. The big blind is the last to act pre-flop and they can ‘check’ (take no action), raise or fold.

Beginners’ Tip: When you are in the big blind and have a less than ideal hand it is recommended that you just check. Some new players will fold their cards when they have already placed a bet! It’s best to stick around and see what happens next.

The Flop

The dealer burns one card (burn cards are in place in casinos to prevent collusion) and deals out three cards in the center of the table. These cards are ‘community cards’, meaning they are shared by all players in the hand, they are also known as ‘the board’. The first three cards are known as ‘the flop’. In this round (and the two subsequent rounds) betting begins with the player immediately to the left of the button and continues in turn in a clockwise direction. Players have the option to check if the there is no bet in front of them, call a bet that has been made, raise a previous bet or fold.

Beginners’ Tip: If the action has been ‘checked to you’, and you have a hand you think might be hopeless, don’t fold! Just check as well if you do not have to call a bet. You never know what the next two cards will bring. Look at it like a ‘free card’ and hope your hand improves.

If there is a raise, all players who have acted prior to the raise are given a chance to act again. For example, if everyone in the hand checks to the button and the button chooses to bet, the play will continue clockwise around the table again giving all players a chance to call the bet or re-raise.

The Turn and River

After betting on the flop is completed the dealer burns another card and places one card out on the board, known as the ‘turn card’. The turn card is followed by another round of betting that follows the same procedure as on the flop. When betting on the turn ends the dealer burns one last card and places a fifth card on the board, which is called ‘fifth street’ or, more commonly, ‘the river card’. This card is followed by a final round of betting in the same method as the flop and turn rounds. When all betting is complete, it’s time for the showdown! Players turn their hands face up to show their best possible five card hands using any combination of their two cards and the five cards on the board.

Beginners’ Tip: Don’t forget your ‘kicker’! A kicker is the nickname for the card that is ‘left over’ when a player has made a hand. They are used to decide the winner in the event two or more players have the same hand. Make sure you have a high ranked kicker to ensure you can beat someone with the same hand as you!

The Winner

A player can win the pot outright or a pot can be split (also called a ‘chop’) among two or more players. Because players can use both, one or none of their hole cards to make a hand, you will occasionally run into a situation where players are ‘playing the board’, meaning the best hand they can make is the five community cards. Of course, a hand does not have to go to a showdown to be over. Sometimes a player will bet or raise and everyone else in the hand will fold. This ends all action in the hand and player who bet or raised is the winner.

Let’s take a look at some examples of winning hands:-

These are just a few examples of situations that you will encounter. Every hand plays out a little differently, and there are many outcomes. Keep in mind that it’s always the best five card hand possible of all seven cards.

Good luck at the tables!