Texas Hold'em Poker Basics
Hand rankings, betting rounds, positions and key terms — everything a beginner needs to sit down and play.
Texas Hold'em is the world's most popular poker game. You get 2 private cards, then 5 shared cards hit the board. Make the best 5-card hand — or bluff everyone into folding.
Quick Example
Board (shared cards)
You
Villain (opponent)
You win! Your pair of Aces beats the opponent's pair of Kings. Out of all 7 cards available (your 2 + 5 on the board), the best 5-card hand wins.
A K Q J 10 of the same suit — the unbeatable hand.
Five consecutive cards of the same suit.
Four cards of the same rank.
Three of a kind plus a pair.
Any five cards of the same suit.
Five consecutive cards of mixed suits.
Three cards of the same rank.
Two different pairs.
Two cards of the same rank.
No matching cards — highest card plays.
Preflop
Each player receives 2 private hole cards face-down. Everyone decides to fold, call, or raise based only on their own cards.
Flop
Three community cards are dealt face-up in the center. All players use these shared cards to build their best hand.
Turn
A fourth community card is added. Another round of betting. Now you can see how strong your hand might be.
River
The fifth and final community card is revealed. Last round of betting. Best hand wins the pot (or last person standing wins).
Check
Pass the action to the next player without betting (only when no one has bet yet).
Bet
Put chips into the pot — the first aggressive action on a street.
Call
Match the current bet or raise to stay in the hand.
Raise
Increase the current bet — forces others to call more or fold.
Fold
Discard your hand and exit the pot. You lose any chips already invested, but you stop the bleeding. Sometimes folding is the right play.
First to act preflop — the toughest spot.
Play tight here. You have no information about what anyone else will do, so only play your best hands.
Second to act preflop — still very early.
Similar to UTG — you're playing before most of the table. Keep your range tight and strong.
Third to act — still an early, disadvantaged position.
You can open slightly wider than UTG, but still be selective. Many players still act after you.
Middle position — slightly more freedom.
You can start adding some medium-strength hands to your range. Still play cautiously with marginal hands.
Two seats right of the button — improving position.
A bit more latitude than early position. You're setting up to steal if the players behind are passive.
One seat right of the button — a strong position.
Great spot to steal blinds and play a wide range. You act after most players and can control pot size.
The best seat — last to act on every postflop street.
Play wide and aggressively. You see everyone else's action before making your decision on the flop, turn, and river.
Posts half the big blind — acts first postflop.
The worst position postflop. You're forced to put money in, and you act first after the flop. Play carefully.
Posts the full big blind — last preflop, first postflop.
You already have money in the pot, so you often have odds to call. But postflop you're out of position.
In the App
When logging a hand, you'll see a seat picker with all 9 positions labeled. Just tap your seat — the app tracks how you perform from each position over time, so you can spot leaks.
Ready to level up?
Now that you know the basics, study position-based opening ranges to decide which hands to play from each seat.
Ran the numbers. Now track the hand.
The calculators tell you what a spot was worth. An account tells you what you did with it — every hand, every session, with an AI coach reading your own play.