How to Play Poker – Poker Rules & Beginners Guide

A round of Texas Hold’em starts once the blinds have been posted. There’s a big blind and a small blind e.g. $1/$2 is a $1 small blind and a $2 big blind. Blinds are mandatory bets that move clockwise around the table, so everyone has to post them at some point. Once the blinds have been posted, everyone gets two hole cards that only they can see.

A round of betting starts once everyone has their cards. Traditional poker rules dictate that there are three betting systems:

All systems can be used for Texas Hold’em. However, in general, No Limit games are most popular at our recommended poker sites.

Betting starts to the left of the big blind. The players to the left can call (put in chips equal to the size of the big blind), raise, or fold. Play moves clockwise until everyone has either folded or matched the last biggest bet.

The flop follows the initial betting round. Three cards are dealt in the middle of the table. They’re known as community cards because everyone can use them in conjunction with their cards to make a hand.

The action starts with the player immediately to the left of the dealer (the “button”) and proceeds clockwise until the last biggest bet has been called. If one of the poker players bets or raises and no one matches it (i.e. everyone else folds), they win the hand by default.

The turn is a fourth community card. This card is dealt if two or more players progress from the flop. The same poker rules we described in the previous section apply here i.e. betting continues until the last biggest bet has been matched or only one player remains.

The river is a fifth community card. This card is dealt if two or more players progress from the turn. The same poker rules we described in the previous section apply here i.e. betting continues until the last biggest bet has been matched or only one player remains.

A showdown takes place if two or more players make it to the river and everyone matches the last biggest bet. At this point, everyone reveals their cards.

These cards can be combined with the community cards to make a five-card hand. The best hand wins the pot according to poker hand rankings. If two or more remaining players have hands of equal rank, the pot is split evenly.

A multi-table tournament is where players are featured on multiple tables instead of just one. Offering significant payouts and entertaining gameplay, players go head-to-head hoping to reach the final table.

Also known as PKOs, this type of tournament offers large payouts without having to reach the final table. After a win, half of your opponents, bounty goes into your account. The remaining amount is added to the bounty.

Cash games, also known as poker ring games, don’t have a start or end point. They run as long as people are at the table.

Each table has set betting limits determined by the “blinds.” For example, a $1/$2 game means the blinds are $1 (the small blind) and $2 (the big blind).

These are forced bets that players have to pay to receive cards. The size of the blinds dictates what the minimum and maximum buy-in for a game is. In our example, the minimum buy-in would be $40 (20x the big blind) and the maximum would be $200 (100x the big blind).

Sit & Gos (SNGs) are mini-tournaments. They carry a fixed buy-in and the number of entries is capped.

The cap on entries means that games start as soon as a table is full. In general, SNGs are capped at two, six, or nine players. However, larger poker sites may run SNGs with up to 100 players.

Freerolls are online poker tournaments that don’t cost anything to enter. You can gain entry by either registering before the start time or using tickets you’ve earned through promotions. The nice thing about freerolls is that the top finishers win cash prizes.

Satellites are also known as qualifiers because they allow you to qualify for a bigger event. For example, let’s say an offshore poker site has a $200 weekly tournament.

That might be too much for your budget, but you spot a $1 satellite where the winner gets a $200 ticket. You play and win the ticket. This means you can enter the $200 having only spent $1.