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How to Play Poker:

Basic Poker Rules for
New Players

Poker games come in many di6erent

forms, but most of those di6erent forms
of poker share many underlying rules.
The most popular form of poker, by far, is
Texas Hold'em.

Read on to learn basic rules for the most

popular poker games.

Most poker games utilize the standard

poker hand ranking system, so it's
important to know which hand wins head
to head when you turn your cards face
up. Betting structures, like no-limit, pot-
limit, and Exed-limit, can be applied to
many di6erent card games.

Here's a brief overview of some of the

basic rules of poker. If you want to brush
up on the rules of a speciEc poker game,
click one of the buttons above.

Hand Rankings
In most poker games, players are tasked
with trying to make the best Eve-card
poker hands using standard poker hand
rankings.

The following hand rankings apply to

most poker variants, aside from the
few games that use lowball hand
rankings. The best poker hand is a royal
Hush, the second-strongest hand is a
straight Hush, and so on down the list,
until you get to high card, the lowest hand
ranking.

Royal Hushes and straight Hushes, along

with four of a kind, full house, three of a
kind, Hushes, and straights, often
represent the best hand when a
showdown commences.

Poker Hand Rankings

Download the Rankings

Blinds and Antes

The small blind and big blind function as
forced bets that form the backbone of the
game in many poker variants. Texas
Hold'em and Omaha, the two most
popular poker games in the world, use
the blinds system, and it's important to
know exactly how these mandatory bets
operate.

In games that use blinds, each hand

begins with the big blind placed one
position to the direct left of the small
blind. Players in these positions must
put in predetermined betting amounts
before each hand. The small blind is
always directly to the left of the dealer
button.

The price of the small blind is always half

(or close to half) of the price of the big
blind. The blinds are posted by the two
players directly to the left of the player
on the button.

For poker cash games, these amounts are

generally noted in the listing for the
game. For example, a $1/$2 cash game at
a live casino means the small blind is $1,
and the big blind is $2.

In most poker games, the minimum

allowed bet for any round of betting is
equal to the big blind amount.

Antes are mandatory bets that are

sometimes posted by all players at the
table, or by the big blind player in
some formats.

When antes are in play, all players must

pay the ante before the hand begins.
The dealer then pulls the antes into the
pot and deals the hand.

For example, a $5/$10 cash game with a

$1 ante requires each player at the table
to put $1 in the pot before each hand.
This is in addition to the blinds, meaning
pots in games that use an ante start o6
bigger than games without an ante.

Limit vs No Limit
No Limit
The term "no limit" seems simple enough.
In any no limit poker game, players
can bet all of their chips at any time.

Most no-limit games use a system of

blinds and a button, and for more on that
system check out Blinds, Antes & The
Button.

For example, let's say we're observing a

no limit hold'em cash game, played at
$1/$2 stakes. In this example game, six
players are seated at the table, each with
$200 in chips.

The small blind posts $1, and the big blind

$2. The cards are dealt, and the player
directly to the left of the big blind starts
the preHop betting round. In all
subsequent rounds, the small blind, or
the Erst player to the left of the small
blind, starts as the Erst bettor.

In a no limit game, this player can bet any

amount, up to all of his/her chips. If this
player wagers the whole $200, this is
known as going all-in.

At any time during a hand, any player

can go all-in. Note that the maximum
amount for an all-in equals the
amount of chips in front of a player
when the hand starts.

Limit
Many poker games, like stud poker
variants, are almost always played with
limit betting rules. Any poker game can be
played with a limit betting structure,
however.

A $2/$4 Limit Texas Hold'em table on

PartyPoker

A Limit Texas Hold'em game played at

$2/$4 limits generally means the blinds
are $1/$2. Limit games are played with a
"small bet" and a "big bet", with the big
blind usually equal to the small bet.

Many limit games use a structure

where the maximum bet/raise is equal
to the small bet in the early rounds of
betting and increases to the big bet
amount in later betting rounds. In
each round, the betting is "capped"
after three raises, and subsequent
players can only call after that.

The Actions
In any given poker hand, the active
player must choose among four
diGerent actions:

1. Call (matching the amount of the

current open bet or raise).
2. Raise (increase the amount of the
current open bet or raise, which any
subsequent players must at least
match to stay in).
3. Fold (pushing their cards into the
middle and surrendering any chance
to win the hand).
4. Check (pass the action to the next
player without betting anything.
Checking can only be used when
there's no open bet or raise in front
of you).

Table Stakes
Cash Game Stakes
Go to a poker room and you might see a
display with listing like “$1/$2 NL
Hold’em” or “$4/$8 Limit Hold’em”.

The “$1/$2 NL Hold’em” listing denotes a

No Limit Texas Hold’em game with a $1
small blind and $2 big blind. The “NL”
descriptor means this game uses a no-
limit betting structure, in which players
can bet all of their chips at any time.

The “$4/$8 Limit Hold’em” listing indicates

a Texas Hold’em game with a $4 small bet
and $8 big bet. This game would be
played with limit betting rules, meaning
there’s a cap on what a player can bet in
each betting round.

For more on betting structures, take a

look at the Betting Rules tab above and
scroll down to the section titled “Limit vs.
No Limit vs. Pot Limit".

As a general rule, a standard buy-in for

a no-limit cash game is 100 times the
big blind. The $1/$2 NL game would
feature a standard buy-in of $200.

A 200NL game denotes a $1/$2 No-

Limit Hold’em game, with a max buy-in
of $200. This notation style always
indicates a game where the maximum
buy-in is 100 big blinds.

Tournament Stakes
Tournament stakes are determined by
how much it costs to buy into the
tournament. Any poker game, including
Texas Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, 7 Card
Stud, draw poker games, and others, can
be played with a tournament format.

A big stack of chips in the World Series

of Poker Main Event.

The blinds in a cash game stay the same

throughout. Sitting down at a $2/$5 No-
Limit Hold'em cash games means the
blinds will be $2 and $5 for as long as you
sit in that game.

Poker tournaments, however, use a

system where the blind amounts
increase at regular intervals. In the
WSOP Main Event, for example, Level 1
starts with the blinds at 100/200. Each
level lasts two hours, and after Level 1 is
over, Level 2 is played.

Level 2 adds a big blind ante to the

structure and is played at 100/200/200.
Level 3 sees the blinds and antes increase
to 200/300/300, and the increases
continue every time a new level begins.

Tournament poker chips have no cash

value, as the buy-in of a given tournament
determines how much money goes into
the prize pool.

Learn more about how to play poker

tournaments here.

Basic Texas Hold'em

Rules
Texas Hold’em stands as the world’s
most popular and well-known poker
game. The majority of cash games,
tournaments, and home poker games
around the world are Texas Hold’em
games.

A straight in Texas Hold'em poker. The

two cards in the player's hand combine
with the three "community cards" on the
felt.

Each player in a Texas Hold’em game gets

two hole cards, and Eve community cards
are dealt face-up on the board. The object
of Texas Hold’em is to make the best Eve-
card poker hand using any combination
of hole cards and community cards.

The dealer begins each game by

distributing these cards one at a time to
each player, starting with the player in the
small blind position. Hole cards are kept
face down throughout the game, and can
only be seen by the player holding them.

After every player has two hole cards, the

Erst of four rounds of betting begins.
Texas Hold’em betting rounds are known
as preHop, Hop, turn, and river.

Once the preHop betting round is

complete, the dealer puts three cards
face up on the board, and these
community cards are known as the Hop.
After a round of betting from all active
players, a fourth card (the turn) is dealt.
Another round of betting occurs before
the Efth and Enal card (the river) is dealt.
The river is followed by one Enal round of
betting.

After that Enal round of betting, all

remaining players turn their hole cards
face up. This part of the hand is called
the showdown, and the best hand wins
at this according to poker hand
rankings.

Want more detailed rules? Learn how to

play Texas Hold'em here.

Basic Omaha Poker

Rules
Omaha Hold’em (also known as just
Omaha) is a game that plays similar to
Texas Hold’em, but with a few key
di6erences.

Like Texas Hold’em, the object of Omaha

is to make the best possible Eve-card
hand, using a combination of hole cards
and Eve community cards.

In Omaha, however, players are dealt

four hole cards and must make a Sve-
card hand using exactly two hole cards
and three community cards. This di6ers
from Texas Hold’em, in which players get
two hole cards, and can use any
combination of hole cards and
community cards to make the best Eve-
card hand.

A (very strong) hand in Omaha Poker.

There are two common versions of

Omaha that are played around the world,
regular Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo (aka
Omaha Eight or Better).

Omaha Hi is usually played with either

pot-limit or limit betting rules. For more
on the di6erent betting structures in
poker, check out our guide to Poker
Betting Rules.

Pot Limit Omaha is commonly called

“PLO”, and is the second-most popular
poker game in the world, behind Texas
Hold’em.

Want more detailed rules? Learn how to

play Pot Limit Omaha poker here.

Other Poker Rules to

Learn
Seven Card Stud
Stud is almost always played with limit
betting rules. For more on limit game
structures, including references to the
"small bet" and "big bet" referenced
throughout this article, see our guide
to Poker Betting Rules.

Stud is unlike Hold’em and Omaha, where

two players to the left of the dealer post
blinds. Instead, each player at the table
posts an ante, usually worth 5% of the big
bet.

The player who receives the lowest

ranking door card posts a forced bet
called the bring-in which is worth 5 times
the ante. If they so choose, this player
may also complete the bet, by posting
the entire small bet.

In a $5/$10 Seven Card Stud game,

players would post $0.50 ante, and the
bring-in would be $2.50. If the player
chose to complete, they would need to
pay $5 (the amount of the small bet).

There are no community cards in stud

games. Instead, each player in Seven Card
Stud receives seven unique cards. The
Erst dealing street includes two down
cards and one face-up card to each of the
players. The second round and three
more betting rounds commence after
that, with each player dealt an additional
card in each round.

After all seven cards have been dealt, the

players will be left with three cards face
down and four cards face up. After the
Enal round, the player's hand that ranks
best wins.