How to Play Poker
No Limit Hold'em
The game on TV and at nearly every tournament: two secret cards, five shared cards, and you can bet all your chips at any moment.
- Ace of spades
- King of hearts
- Your cards
- 2, face down
- Shared cards
- 5 in the middle
- Betting
- No limit
- Who wins
- Best high hand
- In the mix
- 8-Game
What you get
- Ace of spades
- King of hearts
- Queen of diamonds
- Jack of clubs
- Seven of spades
- Four of hearts
- Two of clubs
How a hand goes
Blinds
The two players to the left of the button put in forced bets, the small blind and the big blind, so there is always something to play for.
Preflop
Everyone gets two cards face down. Betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind.
Your cards- a card face down
- a card face down
The flop
Three shared cards go face up in the middle. Another round of betting.
Board- Queen of diamonds
- Jack of clubs
- Seven of spades
The turn
A fourth shared card. Another round of betting.
Board- Queen of diamonds
- Jack of clubs
- Seven of spades
- Four of hearts
The river
The fifth and last shared card. The last round of betting.
Board- Queen of diamonds
- Jack of clubs
- Seven of spades
- Four of hearts
- Two of clubs
Showdown
Everyone still in shows their cards. The best five-card hand wins the pot.
Making your hand
You have seven cards to choose from: your two and the five on the board. Your hand is the best five of them. You can use both your cards, just one, or none at all.
- Ace of spades, plays
- King of hearts, plays
- Queen of diamonds, plays
- Jack of clubs, plays
- Ten of spades, plays
- Four of hearts, does not play
- Two of clubs, does not play
- Plays in the hand
- Does not play
Playing the board
If the five shared cards are better than anything you can make, your hand is the board itself. Everyone who plays the board ties and splits the pot.
Who wins
- King of diamonds
- Nine of spades
- Nine of hearts
- Five of clubs
- Two of spades
Mia
- King of spades
- Queen of clubs
- King of spades
- King of diamonds
- Nine of spades
- Nine of hearts
- Queen of clubs
Two pair, kings and nines
Leo
- Ace of hearts
- Nine of clubs
- Nine of clubs
- Nine of spades
- Nine of hearts
- Ace of hearts
- King of diamonds
Three nines
Wins the pot
Betting: no limit
- Smallest bet
- The size of the big blind.
- Smallest raise
- At least as big as the last bet or raise in that round.
- Biggest bet
- Every chip you have in front of you. That is going all in.
- All in for less
- If you cannot match a bet, you can still go all in. You can only win as much from each player as you put in yourself; the rest goes into a side pot for the others.
Hand rankings, best to worst
Royal flush
A, K, Q, J, 10, all one suit.
- Ace of spades
- King of spades
- Queen of spades
- Jack of spades
- Ten of spades
Straight flush
Five in a row, all one suit.
- Nine of hearts
- Eight of hearts
- Seven of hearts
- Six of hearts
- Five of hearts
Four of a kind
Four cards of the same rank.
- Queen of spades
- Queen of hearts
- Queen of diamonds
- Queen of clubs
- Four of spades
Full house
Three of a kind plus a pair.
- Jack of spades
- Jack of hearts
- Jack of diamonds
- Eight of clubs
- Eight of spades
Flush
Five of one suit, not in a row.
- King of diamonds
- Ten of diamonds
- Seven of diamonds
- Four of diamonds
- Two of diamonds
Straight
Five in a row, mixed suits.
- Ten of clubs
- Nine of diamonds
- Eight of spades
- Seven of hearts
- Six of clubs
Three of a kind
Three cards of the same rank.
- Seven of spades
- Seven of hearts
- Seven of clubs
- King of diamonds
- Two of spades
Two pair
Two different pairs.
- Ace of spades
- Ace of diamonds
- Nine of clubs
- Nine of hearts
- Five of spades
One pair
Two cards of the same rank.
- Ten of hearts
- Ten of spades
- Ace of clubs
- Eight of diamonds
- Three of clubs
High card
Nothing else: the highest card plays.
- Ace of clubs
- Jack of diamonds
- Eight of hearts
- Five of spades
- Two of clubs