A Texas Hold’em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold’em with a few added rules and twists. Learn more about the unique rules of Texas Holdem poker tournaments. Meanwhile, a Texas Holdem cash game is played on a single table with 2 to 10 players. No-limit betting is found in the most popular poker games, especially no-limit hold'em. In those games, players are allowed to bet everything they have any time the action is on them, with no.
Learning how to play poker should not be difficult. If you want to understand why so many people love this game, this beginner's guide to the rules and the basics of poker is all you need.
Poker is a simple game to learn, but the poker rules can be challenging for a complete beginner.
But don't let that put you off. It is not hard to learn how to play poker, and you can move from the basics of the game to the tables of the top online poker sites in no time.
Here's everything you'll learn in this guide on how to play poker:
Before you move to the 'practical' side of this guide on how to play the most popular variants of this game, you need to learn the basics of poker.
When most people say they want to know 'how to play regular poker,' they imply that they want to learn the basics of Texas Hold'em.
Texas Hold'em is (by far) the most popular poker game out there and it's the one you find at every online poker site.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. With so many poker variants to play online and offline, the only proper guide on how to play poker for dummies is the one that gets you access to all the best games out there.
Not just to the most famous one.
Many poker rules are consistent from game to game, although among the dozens of variants such as Texas hold'em, Omaha, and seven-card stud you will find some ket differences you need to kno.
Let's have a quick look at the poker rules of the most played poker games online:
Game | Texas Hold'em |
How Many Players | 2-10 |
Poker Rules | How to play Texas hold'em |
Also called the 'Cadillac of Poker,' Texas hold'em is the one you are going to play over and over again.
This is the most popular poker game online and it is also the one you are most likely to play with our friends in your next home game.
Whether you play it in the form of a tournament or as a ring-game, the basic poker rules and the hand rankings don't change.
> Discover how to play Texas Hold'em
Game | Omaha Poker |
How Many Players | 2-10 |
Poker Rules | How to play Omaha |
Where to Play | Top poker sites |
The second-most popular poker variant. Omaha poker finds its roots in the game of Texas Hold'em, although the rules of the two games are slightly different from each other.
Many players find learning how to play poker Omaha to be the natural step to take after they have successfully mastered the basics of Texas Hold'em.
In the poker rules page dedicated to the game, you find the perfect beginner's guide to moving your first steps in the world of Omaha.
> Learn how to play Omaha poker
Game | Seven-Card Stud |
How Many Players | 2-8 |
Poker Rules | How to play 7-card Stud |
Where to Play | Top poker sites |
Before Texas hold'em became king, anyone who wanted to learn the basic poker rules and how to play poker had to go through the game of seven-card stud.
As the name suggests, this is a variant of stud poker. 7-card stud is also the 'S' game in the H.O.R.S.E. poker — but if you are still learning how to play poker, it's probably too early for you to jump on that.
> Discover how to play seven-card stud poker
If you want to go deeper and you want to learn how to play even more poker games, PokerNews is the right site for you.
Pick one poker variant to learn from the list that follows and find out how to play some of the most exciting and lesser-known poker games out there!
Use these guides to learn how to play poker and master not only the most 'obvious' games like Texas hold'em bu also all the other different variants out there.
In our guides for beginners, you find the official poker rules, the basic strategy tips, and the hand rankings — because knowing how to calculate points is key if you want to win at poker.
One element used in most poker variants is the system of hand rankings.
The highest ranked hand is a Royal Flush (five cards of the same suit, ranked ace through ten), followed by a Straight Flush (five cards of the same suit of consecutive ranks).
The third-best combination is the Four-of-a-kind, which is then followed by the Full House (three of a kind plus one pair), the Flush, the Straight, the Three-of-a-kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card or no pair.
When a hand reaches the showdown, the player with the highest-ranked hand wins the pot.
That's true of Texas hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud, and five-card draw.
Of course, in 'lowball' games like razz or deuce-to-seven triple draw, the hand rankings are turned upside down and the 'worst' hand according to traditional hand rankings is the winning one.
Games like hold'em and Omaha feature small and big blinds, so called because they are 'blind' bets players have to make before they are dealt any cards.
Meanwhile stud games usually use 'antes', which also involve players putting chips in the middle before the hand begins.
From there players bet more as the hand progresses, thereby creating larger pots.
Some games are played with no-limit betting, which means players can bet as much as they like at any point in the hand, including going 'all in.'
Pot-limit betting means that the current size of the pot creates an upper limit on how much a player can bet.
Games that are played with fixed-limit betting have predetermined amounts from which players cannot vary when they make their bets and raises.
There are other terms that tend to be used in all different poker games, including many having to do with the actions you perform when playing.
When the action is on you, you can:
All of those terms are an important step in your journey to learn how to play poker since they tend to come up in all poker variants.
In games with community cards like hold'em and Omaha (also sometimes called 'flop games'), the betting rounds are referred to as:
One other poker rule common to just about every variant of the you'll play – whether you are playing live poker or online poker – is one called 'table stakes.'
Table stakes means that once a hand begins, you can only bet whatever amount you had on the table to begin the hand and are not allowed to add anything more during the hand as it plays out.
If you only have $100 on the table to begin a hand, you can't pull out your wallet and add more halfway through the hand – you can only play out the hand with whatever you had to start.
Now that you know the basic poker rules and you have links to go back to your poker guides when you need to, it's time to look for the best websites to practice poker online.
Don't start to play poker for real money right away. Try out the games for free first. That's the only way to discover if you have really learned how to play poker.
Looking for a site to practice online poker for free?
Don't miss the updated list of the best free poker sites in 2020!
There are countless options to give the game a test run, but the best way is to try out the real deal.
Sign up for a poker account with one of the big online poker rooms and give the freerolls a try.
That way, you can practice poker online without any risk; you're not wagering any money.
And if you want to try out cash games instead of tournaments, all major poker sites online have so-called play money tables.
That way you can practice the game, learn the rules, and figure out how the software works, readying yourself for the big stage.
Register a free gaming account and test your poker knowledge in the next freeroll!
It has been observed that the rules of poker tend to be whatever the players agree the rules are going to be. In other words, poker is a uniquely flexible game that allows for all kinds of variations covering how hands are made, how betting is conducted, and how winners and losers determined.
That said, there are a number of basic poker rules that more or less have to be observed no matter what the variant is. These are the rules every beginning player must get acquainted with from the very start.
Anyone who has played a game of poker is going to be familiar with things like hand rankings and the order of play. Hand rankings must be learned and committed to memory early on, as they influence all aspects of strategy.
For most poker games in which the highest-ranking five-card poker hand wins, 'high card' hands containing no pair rank the lowest, then in ascending order proceed to one-pair hands, two-pair hands, three of a kind, a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, and finally a royal flush.
Rules governing the order of play dictate who acts first and how all subsequent action proceeds when betting and/or drawing cards. Those rules can differ depending on the variant, but all poker games have them. For instance in Texas hold'em, the 'under the gun' player sitting to the left of the big blind acts first before the flop, with action following around the table in a clockwise fashion. Then after the flop the small blind (or player nearest to the small blind still in the hand) acts first.
Poker betting rules also differ depending on the game, although once again there are certain guidelines regarding betting that cut across all sorts of different poker games.
In most games, including when you play online poker games and when you play live in a cardroom or a home game, the rule is 'table stakes' only. That means that during a given hand players are only allowed to use the money already on the table at the start of the hand and not introduce additional cash to bet before the hand is over.
The 'table stakes' rule is one that often gets ignored in movies and television programs featuring poker scenes, especially those set in the Old West when the rule wasn't as prevalent. Robert Woolley discusses the significance of 'table stakes' and the distinction with 'open stakes' in an entry in his 'Casino Poker for Beginners' series titled 'Table Stakes'; or, No, You Can't Bet Your Covered Wagon.'
Most games have forced bets to help encourage action, including antes and blinds. In a game of hold'em, for instance, there's always a small blind (SB) and a big blind (BB), with the SB being one-half of the BB. (As noted above, where the blinds are located helps determine the order of play as well.)
Meanwhile, in addition to the table stakes rule and forced bets, different poker games have different rules dictating how bets are made.
In fixed-limit games, players are restricted to betting a certain amount. For example a fixed-limit hold'em game with limits of $1/$2, players must bet $1 before and after the flop, then $2 on the turn and river. Raises can only be that same amount, too — say a player bets $2 on the turn, another can raise but only to $4 total. The number of raises is often 'capped' as well per betting round.
In pot-limit games, players are also restricted but can bet up to the amount already in the pot at the time they make their bet. For instance, in a pot-limit Omaha game with $1/$2 blinds, the first person who bets must bet at least a minimum of $2 (calling the big blind), or can raise up to $7 total --the $2 call of the BB makes the total pot $5 (the $1 SB, the $2 BB, and the $2 call), then the player can match that $5 for a total bet of $7.
No-limit betting is found in the most popular poker games, especially no-limit hold'em. In those games, players are allowed to bet everything they have any time the action is on them, with no restrictions on betting amounts (other than the 'table stakes' one, of course).
Finally, a couple of other rules concerning betting have to do with the action itself, namely, the prohibition against 'string bets' and what is sometimes called the 'one chip rule' regarding betting.
A 'string bet' refers to a player trying to make a bet (often a raise) but failing to put all of the chips forward in a single motion, instead putting out some and then taking a second trip back to the stack to get more chips to bet. This two-part motion isn't allowed unless the player has verbally declared the raise beforehand.
The rule against string bets keeps players from putting out some chips and waiting to see how an opponent reacts before putting out some more. This is another rule you often see ignored in movies, by the way, when a player says 'I'll see your $100,' then after a dramatic pause adds 'and raise you $200!'
The 'one chip rule' dictates that if one player bets then a second player puts just a single chip forward without making any sort of verbal declaration, that action of betting one chip will be interpreted as a call and cannot be a raise. Thus if the first player bets $5 and the second player puts out a $25 chip without saying anything, the second player has only called the bet and not made a raise.
Hand rankings, the order of play, and rules about betting cover most of the basics when getting started with poker. Then come still more rules new players especially might not appreciate at first, but they eventually become second nature to most.
Some of these rules include not acting out of turn, not showing your hand or revealing what it is while the hand is still going on, and not talking about the cards you folded (or anything else that might affect the action) when others are still playing the hand.
There are many other 'unwritten rules' having to do with following expectations, ranging from protecting your hand from being seen by others and putting your high denomination chips in front to others having to do with tipping, not being abusive to dealers or other players and other matters of etiquette.
And we haven't even gotten into other 'rules' regarding strategy — like understanding the importance of position, starting hand selection, bet sizing and so on.
If you're a relatively new player or if you play online poker games a lot but haven't tried to play live yet, you may have a good handle on the basic rules governing game play but many other rules may be new to you. Indeed, for even the most experienced poker players, the learning never stops.