Poker Gameplay

The following section was written based on the rules of Texas Hold'em, which is currently the most popular form of poker played.

For definitions of the bolded terms below, please refer to our poker terminology page.

Step by Step - Standard Texas Hold'em Poker

The Dealer Position
Regardless of if there is a professional dealer running the table or not one player will start off with a dealer button. This dealer button will signify the player that will begin the rotation of play in this round. The button will move to the next player in clockwise order after each round of play.

The Blind Bets
The two players to the left of the dealer position will be required to post blind bets. Blind bets begin the action of betting in the game and are will differ in amount based on the type of game you are playing.

The player directly to the left will be required to post the small blind while the player two spots to the left will be required to pay the big blind.

In a $2-$4 Texas Hold'em game the small blind would be $1 while the big blind will be $2.

Once the blinds have been posted, the dealer will then deal two cards face down to each player at the table. These two cards are known as hole cards.

First Round of Betting
Once each player has been dealt their two cards, they will have a sense of how good their chances are and will place their initial bets. For more information on winning poker hands visit our poker hands page.

The Flop - Community cards are drawn
The dealer will now draw three community cards from the top of the deck and place them face up on the playing table. The first card on the top of the deck is removed before the three cards are drawn. This card is called the burning card and was originally instated to prevent cheating.

The three community cards on the table can now be interchanged with the two hole cards in each player's hand to create a full poker hand.

The Second Round of Betting
A second round of betting now takes place. Each player now has a very good idea of how their hand will fare, so some players will opt to fold their cards if they feel unlucky.

The Turn Card
The dealer will now burn the top card of his deck and deal the next card up as the turn card. It will become the fourth community card in the center of the table that can be interchanged with the hole cards.

The Third Round of Betting
All bets in this round will now incremented. For example, if the game is a 2-4 dollar game the bets would now be at the $4 level.

The River Card
The dealer will burn the top card of the deck and turn the next card over as the fifth and final community card. Once the final community card is revealed the results of the round are finalized. Each player will now know where they stand and will have one last opportunity to either fold or continue to the showdown.

The Fourth and Final Bet
Another betting round will now take place as described above. Player that will now proceed to the showdown.

The Showdown
All players will now reveal their hands and the winning hand will claim the pot. The steps above will repeat until one player outlasts all challengers and wins the entire pot.

In order to shorten the playing time of large tournaments it is common that blinds be raised in intervals in order to raise the stakes.