How to play Texas Hold’em

Texas Hold’em is a community-card poker game. You get two cards only you can see, five shared cards are dealt face up in the middle, and the best five-card hand made from those seven cards wins the pot. You can learn the rules in ten minutes. The rest is practice.

The table: button, blinds and pot

A full live table seats up to nine or ten players. Before any cards come out, a few pieces are already in place.

The game name you will see on a casino board is usually “no-limit Hold’em”, often written NLH or NLHE. No-limit means you can bet any amount up to everything you have on the table.

The four betting rounds

A hand of Hold’em has up to four rounds of betting. Each round ends when everyone still in the hand has either put in the same amount or folded. If only one player is left at any point, the hand is over.

1. Preflop

The blinds post, then the dealer gives everyone two hole cards, one at a time, starting with the small blind. The first player to act is the one to the left of the big blind, a seat called under the gun. Action moves clockwise. Because the big blind is already a bet, you can’t check here: you fold, call the big blind or raise. The big blind acts last preflop and can check if nobody raised. Preflop strategy covers how to decide which hands to play.

2. The flop

The dealer burns one card face down and turns three community cards face up. Now betting starts with the first active player to the left of the button, usually the small blind or big blind. From here on, the button acts last in every round. That is why late position is such an advantage.

3. The turn

Another burn card, then a fourth community card. Another round of betting, same order as the flop.

4. The river

One more burn and the fifth and final community card. The last round of betting. If two or more players are still in after the river betting, you go to showdown.

Your options when it’s your turn

• Check: pass the action without betting. Only allowed when nobody has bet in the current round.
• Bet: put the first chips into a round.
• Call: match the current bet.
• Raise: increase the current bet. In no-limit, a raise must be at least as big as the last bet or raise in that round. If someone bets $20, the smallest raise is to $40. The most you can raise is everything in front of you.
• Fold: give up your hand and any chips you’ve already put in the pot.

All-in is not a separate action, it just means betting or calling with every chip you have. If you’re all-in for less than the bet, you can only win the part of the pot you matched. Anything extra goes into a side pot for the other players.

Live rooms also have rules about how you put chips in. The two that catch new players are string bets (reaching back to the stack for more chips after your first motion) and verbal declarations (whatever you say out loud first is binding). The short version: say “raise” before you move any chips. Live poker etiquette covers the rest.

Showdown

If more than one player is left after the river, cards are turned over and compared. Your hand is the best five cards out of the seven available: your two hole cards plus the five on the board. You can use both hole cards, one, or none.

In most rooms the last player to bet or raise on the river shows first. If the river was checked through, the first player to the left of the button shows first. You can always turn your cards over voluntarily, and if you’re beaten you can usually muck (throw them away face down) instead. Many rooms follow “cards speak”, so if you have a winner, table your hand and let the dealer read it. Never muck a hand you think might win.

Hand rankings: what beats what

Strongest at the top. The right-hand column is roughly how often you end up with that hand as your best five by the river when you see all seven cards.

Three rules settle most arguments. Suits never rank, so a spade flush and a heart flush of the same cards split. When two hands are the same type, the kickers (the other cards in the five) decide it. An ace can play low in A-2-3-4-5, the lowest straight. The full list and tie rules are on poker hand rankings.

A full example hand at $1/$3

Here is one hand from shuffle to showdown, the way it would play at a nine-handed $1/$3 no-limit table. You have $300 in front of you and you’re on the button.

1. Blinds. The small blind posts $1, the big blind posts $3. The pot starts at $4.
2. Preflop. You’re dealt A♠ K♣. Under the gun folds, and so do the next four players. The hijack (two seats to your right) raises to $12. The cutoff folds. You call $12. You could re-raise here, but calling is fine too. The small blind folds, giving up the $1. The big blind calls $9 more. Pot: $12 + $12 + $12 + $1 = $37, three players.
3. Flop: K♦ 7♣ 2♥. You have a pair of kings with an ace kicker, called top pair, top kicker. The big blind checks. The hijack bets $20. You call. The big blind folds. Pot: $77, two players.
4. Turn: 4♠. The hijack checks. You bet $45. The hijack calls. Pot: $167.
5. River: J♦. The hijack checks. You bet $90. The hijack thinks, then calls. Pot: $347.
6. Showdown. You made the last bet, so you show first: A♠ K♣. The hijack shows K♥ Q♠.

Both of you have a pair of kings. Your best five cards are K♣ K♦ A♠ J♦ 7♣. Theirs are K♥ K♦ Q♠ J♦ 7♣. Same pair, so the kicker decides it: your ace beats their queen and you win the $347 pot, less the rake the room takes. You put in $167 over the hand, so you finish up $180 before rake.

Notice that you only used one of your hole cards for your pair and the ace as a kicker, plus three board cards. If the board had run out A♦ K♦ Q♦ J♦ 10♦ instead, every player still in would have a royal flush from the board alone, and the pot would be split.

Common beginner mistakes

• Playing too many hands. Hands like K♥ 9♠ and Q♣ 6♣ look playable and cost new players the most money. Fold more, especially from early seats.
• Ignoring position. The same hand is worth more on the button than under the gun. Read poker positions before you memorize any chart.
• Forgetting the kicker. A♠ 5♦ on an A-K-9 flop is top pair with a weak kicker. It loses to every better ace.
• Chasing draws at any price. A flush draw hits about 1 time in 5 on the next card. Check the pot odds before you call.
• Misreading the board. Four hearts on the board means any heart makes a flush. A paired board means full houses are possible.
• Acting out of turn. Wait until the action is on you, even if you know you’re folding. It gives information away and annoys the table.
• Mucking a winner. Turn your hand face up at showdown and let the dealer read it.

Cash games vs tournaments

The rules of the hand are the same. What changes is what the chips mean and how the blinds work.

Toronto-area options are listed on cash games and tournaments. If a tournament is your first live game, read your first live tournament.

Hold’em at a Toronto casino table

At Great Canadian Toronto or Pickering, $1/$3 no-limit Hold’em is the usual first stake on the published menu. A 100 big-blind buy-in is $300. Rooms also post minimum and maximum buy-ins, so read them at the desk. You buy chips at the cage or the poker desk, put your name on the list, and sit when you’re called. The list is covered on waitlists and live lists.

• The dealer runs the game. You never shuffle or deal. The dealer moves the action, counts the pot, reads the hands and pushes you the chips. If you’re not sure it’s your turn, ask.
• Chips stay on the table. Keep your stack visible and in front of you. Bigger chips are usually kept where other players can see them.
• Table stakes. You can only play the chips that are on the table when the hand starts. You can’t reach into your wallet mid-hand, and you can’t be forced out of a pot by a bet bigger than your stack; you’re all-in for what you have. Adding chips between hands is usually allowed up to the room’s maximum buy-in.
• You must be 19 or older. Ontario casinos are 19+. Carry government photo ID.
• Verbal is binding. Say “call” or “raise to 15” clearly, then put the chips in.

None of this is a promise that $1/$3 is running when you arrive. Check the live list and room hours on live poker in Toronto before you drive, and walk through your first live poker game if it will be your first time at a casino table. If you’d rather try Omaha, the four-card version, see Omaha poker.

FAQ

What to learn next

1. Poker hand rankings
2. Poker positions
3. Preflop strategy
4. Pot odds
5. Live poker etiquette

Or follow the whole poker learning path in order.

By the TorontoPoker.org editorial team · Updated September 2026 · 19+ · Play responsibly