Texas Hold’em hands & betting

No-Limit Texas Hold’em, players against players, 2 to 10 at a table with one 52-card deck. The button moves one seat each hand. The small blind (left of the button) and the big blind (twice as much, left of that) go in first — the big blind is a fiftieth of the buy-in, so a table plays the same at any stake. Then two cards each, one at a time, starting left of the button. Heads up, the button posts the small blind.

Four betting rounds. Before the flop the player left of the big blind acts first and the big blind last, with the option to check or raise if everyone just called; heads up the button acts first. Then a card is burnt and three dealt (the flop), a card burnt and one dealt (the turn), a card burnt and one dealt (the river), with a round after each in which the first player still in left of the button acts first. If everyone else folds, the last player takes the pot at once without showing.

On your turn you may check if nothing is owed, bet (at least the big blind) if nobody has, call to match, raise, go all in, or fold. A raise must add at least the last bet or raise — at the smallest buy-in, bet $20, raise to at least $40; raise to $40, the next raise is to at least $60. An all-in may be less than a call, and one that is not a full raise does not reopen the betting for players who already acted: they may only call or fold. All-in players take no more actions and stay in to the showdown; once nobody can still bet against anyone, the board is simply dealt out.

An all-in player can only win the main pot — their all-in amount from every player who matched it. Anything above that forms side pots that only the players who covered them can win. At the showdown the last player to bet or raise on the river shows first, or if the river was checked, the first player still in left of the button. The rest follow in turn, showing a hand that wins something or is at least as good as one already shown and mucking anything else unseen.

Make the best five-card hand from your two and the board, using both, one or neither of your own cards. Hands rank royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. An ace plays high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (5-4-3-2-A) but a straight never wraps round, so Q-K-A-2-3 is nothing. Equal categories are decided by the ranks in the hand, then the kickers from the top down; suits never break a tie. Tied hands split each pot and an odd chip goes to the tied winner nearest the button’s left.

You have 30 seconds to act. Let it run out and the table checks for you, or folds if there is a bet to answer. The house deals and takes nothing: every chip that comes off the table goes back to a player. Every hand is its own buy-in and every chip goes back to cash when it ends, so nobody is knocked out and the blinds never rise: sit a hand out until you have the buy-in again. Nobody sees your cards unless you show them, and every shuffle is recorded so a finished hand can be replayed card for card. Opening a table, seats, buy-ins and what happens when somebody leaves are under Texas Hold’em (multiplayer) and Multiplayer tables.