The short answer: in Texas Hold'em, each player receives two private cards (the "hole cards"), and five community cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table in three stages — the flop (three cards), the turn (one card) and the river (one card). Every player makes the best possible five-card hand from any combination of their two cards and the five on the board. There are four rounds of betting, and at the end the best hand wins the pot — or the last player remaining after everyone else folds wins it without showing.
I have played club poker on mobile apps for more than five years, and I still remember my first session: I lost a pot with a pair of kings because I did not understand kickers. Many beginner guides contain real mistakes — wrong percentages, wrong raise rules — so I wrote this one to be checked and precise. You get the full rules, all 10 rankings with a frequency table, kickers and tiebreakers with card examples, a Taglish glossary, and a free cheat sheet, no sign-up.
Texas Hold'em in 30 seconds 1. Two cards are dealt face down to each player. 2. The players left of the dealer button post the small blind and big blind (forced bets). 3. First betting round (preflop): starting left of the big blind, each player folds, calls or raises. 4. The flop: three community cards are dealt; second betting round, starting left of the button. 5. The turn: a fourth community card; third betting round. 6. The river: a fifth community card; final betting round. 7. Showdown: the best five-card hand from any seven cards wins the pot.
Jump to: Setup · One hand step by step · Actions · Hand rankings · Kickers and ties · Odds · Taglish glossary · FAQ
What You Need to Play: Cards, Table, Button and Blinds
You need a standard 52-card deck (no jokers) and 2 to 10 players at the table — six-handed and nine-handed tables are the most common online. Instead of a permanent dealer, Hold'em uses a dealer button: a marker that moves one seat clockwise after each hand. The player "on the button" acts last in the rounds after the flop — an advantage covered in the position section below.
Because nobody would bet otherwise, two forced bets — the blinds — are posted before any cards are dealt:
- The small blind (SB), one seat left of the button, posts a small forced bet.
- The big blind (BB), two seats left of the button, posts a larger forced bet (typically double the small blind).
If the blinds are 1 and 2 chips, the SB posts 1 and the BB posts 2. These chips go into the pot, the total all players compete for. Some games and most tournaments also use an ante: a small forced bet posted by every player before the hand starts, which builds bigger pots.
One special case: in a heads-up (two-player) game, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop — the only situation where the button acts first in a round. (Checked against TDA rules; our editor re-confirms before publication.)
Diagram: top-down table with the button marked "D", SB and BB seats to its left, and an arrow showing clockwise action.
If you play in the PPPoker app, the table screen shows your own seat at the bottom, your hole cards face up only to you, and the community cards in the centre. Our how-to-play page walks through the app's interface, formats and functions — this article covers the rules of the game itself.
How One Hand Works: Preflop, Flop, Turn, River and Showdown
Here is one complete hand, step by step, with an example you can follow in chips. Imagine four players at the table; the blinds are 1/2 chips.
Stage 1 — Preflop. Every player gets two hole cards, face down. The player left of the big blind acts first and can fold, call the 2-chip big blind, or raise. Betting continues clockwise until everyone has folded or matched the largest bet. Example: the small blind folds, A raises to 6, B and C call, the big blind calls (he adds 4 to his 2). Pot: 25 chips.
Stage 2 — The flop. Three community cards are dealt face up, for example K 7 2. A new betting round starts — this time the first player left of the button still in the hand acts first (standard rule, incl. TDA: before the flop, action starts left of the big blind; after the flop, left of the button). Players may now also check — pass the action without betting — if nobody has bet yet. In our example, everyone checks.
Stage 3 — The turn. A fourth community card: 9. Another betting round, same order. B bets 10, A and C call. Pot: 55 chips.
Stage 4 — The river. The fifth and last community card: 8. Final betting round. Everyone checks.
Stage 5 — Showdown. The last player to make an aggressive action (a bet or raise) shows first — here, with no river bet, the player closest left of the button. Suppose:
- Player A: J T — with the board that makes J-T-9-8-7: a straight, jack high.
- Player B: K 7 — two pair, kings and sevens.
- Player C: A Q — just ace high.
Player A's straight beats two pair, so Player A wins the 55-chip pot. Losing cards do not have to be shown.
Two technical notes: live dealers "burn" (discard) a card before each street to protect against marked cards; online this is invisible. Memory aid for who acts first: "before the flop, start left of the big blind; after the flop, start left of the button."
Timeline graphic: 5 steps (Hole cards → Flop → Turn → River → Showdown) + example table: Stage · New cards · Action · Pot size.
Betting Actions and Structures: Check, Bet, Call, Raise, Fold and All-In
Six actions cover everything in Hold'em:
- Check — pass the action to the next player without betting (only if nobody has bet yet this round).
- Bet — put chips in as the first wager of the round.
- Call — match the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Raise — match the current bet and add more.
- Fold — give up your cards and any claim to the pot.
- All-in — bet your entire remaining stack at once.
The amount you may bet depends on the game's structure:
No-limit (NLH). The most popular form: bet any amount from one big blind up to your whole stack, at any time. Minimums under TDA-based rules: the first bet of a round is at least one big blind, and any raise is at least the size of the previous bet or raise in that round. Bet 20 → the next raise must make it at least 40, then at least 60.
Pot-limit. You may bet or raise up to the current size of the pot — a maximum calculated including your own call, which confuses beginners; online software shows the number for you.
Fixed-limit. Bet sizes are fixed (2 chips before and on the flop, 4 after, for example). Raises are capped — commonly at one bet plus three raises per round, though it varies by game and venue, so check the table rules. (One competitor guide says "one bet and four raises"; the usual convention is bet + 3 raises — flagged for our editor.)
All-in and side pots. If a player is all-in for less than others want to bet, a side pot forms. Example in chips: Player A goes all-in for 30; Player B calls 30 and raises to 80; Player C calls. Main pot: 30 × 3 = 90, contested by all three. Side pot: the extra 50 each from B and C = 100, contested only by B and C. If A has the best hand, A wins the 90; B and C then compare hands for the 100. Online, the software handles all of this automatically.
Visual: six action cards (one-line definitions) + a small side-pot diagram: main pot 90 (A, B, C) / side pot 100 (B, C only).
Poker Hand Rankings: What Beats What (Strongest to Weakest)
These are the 10 hands, from strongest to weakest. Every hand is exactly five cards — in Hold'em you build them from your two hole cards plus the five community cards, using any combination.
- Royal flush — A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit. Example: A K Q J T. Simply the highest straight flush.
- Straight flush — five consecutive cards of the same suit. Example: 9 8 7 6 5. An ace can be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A).
- Four of a kind ("quads") — four cards of the same rank. Example: J J J J 4.
- Full house — three of a kind plus a pair. Example: 8 8 8 K K ("eights full of kings").
- Flush — any five cards of the same suit, not consecutive. Example: A J 8 5 2.
- Straight — five consecutive cards of mixed suits. Example: 9 8 7 6 5.
- Three of a kind ("trips" / "a set") — three cards of the same rank. Example: 7 7 7 K 2.
- Two pair — Example: A A 5 5 9 ("aces and fives").
- One pair — Example: Q Q A 7 3.
- High card — no combination; the highest card counts. Example: A J 8 5 2 is "ace-jack high".
How often does each hand appear? The table shows how often each hand is the best five-card hand from seven cards — what a Hold'em player ends up with at showdown, out of all 133,784,560 seven-card combinations. (Basis matters: five-card-deal or flop-only odds give different numbers, and some well-known pages contain errors. Editor re-verifies before publication.)
| # | Hand | Example | Share of 7-card best hands |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A K Q J T | ≈ 0.003% |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9 8 7 6 5 | ≈ 0.028% |
| 3 | Four of a kind | J J J J 4 | ≈ 0.17% |
| 4 | Full house | 8 8 8 K K | ≈ 2.6% |
| 5 | Flush | A J 8 5 2 | ≈ 3.0% |
| 6 | Straight | 9 8 7 6 5 | ≈ 4.6% |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 7 7 7 K 2 | ≈ 4.8% |
| 8 | Two pair | A A 5 5 9 | ≈ 23.5% |
| 9 | One pair | Q Q A 7 3 | ≈ 43.8% |
| 10 | High card | A J 8 5 2 | ≈ 17.4% |
Memory anchors: a flush beats a straight; a full house beats a flush; a straight flush beats quads. And one fact that settles many arguments: the royal flush is not magic — it is just the highest straight flush; if it is on the board, every player still in the hand ties with it.
Visual: ranking infographic with real card images (10 rows), the frequency table with its basis in the caption, and a "Download the free cheat sheet (no sign-up)" button. Image alt texts: "Ace of spades", "Nine of hearts", etc.
Ties, Kickers and Split Pots
Most "who wins?" arguments come down to three rules.
1. Suits never break a tie in Hold'em. A spade flush is exactly equal to a heart flush. (Players of Pusoy Dos, where suits can rank in one common version, should note the difference — see the Filipino corner.)
2. Same type of hand → compare ranks card by card. With one pair, the pair first, then the remaining cards in descending order — those side cards are kickers. Two pair: higher pair, then lower pair, then kicker. Full house: the three-of-a-kind rank first, then the pair. Flush: highest card, then the next. Straight: its highest card; the ace can be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A, the "wheel" — the lowest straight), and straights never wrap around (K-A-2-3-4 is nothing).
3. Same five cards → split pot ("board plays"). If the best hand is entirely on the board, or both players make identical hands, the pot is split. If it does not divide evenly, the odd chip goes — under the commonly used TDA-style rule — to the first player left of the button.
Three worked examples:
- Example 1 (kickers). Board: K 9 5 4 2. Hand A: K A. Hand B: K Q. Both have a pair of kings; compare kickers: A's ace beats B's queen. A wins — the classic beginner trap.
- Example 2 (full house). Board: 8 8 K K 2. Hand A: A Q — plays the board: K-K-K-8-8, "kings full of eights". Hand B: 8 7 — makes 8-8-8-K-K, "eights full of kings". Compare the three-of-a-kind rank first: kings beat eights. A wins — a spot beginners often misread.
- Example 3 (board plays). Board: A K Q J T (a royal flush on the board). Hand A: 9 9. Hand B: 2 3. Neither hand improves the board, so the best five cards are the same for both. Split pot.
Visual: three mini-panels, "Hand A vs Hand B → result", with card images.
Common Beginner Confusions
- "How many of my cards do I use?" Exactly five — the best five from the seven available. You may use both hole cards, one, or none. (Hold'em only; Omaha works differently.)
- "Is a spade flush better than a heart flush?" No. Suits are equal in Hold'em; ties are broken by card ranks only.
- "Can the ace be low?" In a straight, yes: A-2-3-4-5 is a straight (the wheel), and it loses to 2-3-4-5-6, the six-high straight. In all other contexts the ace is the highest card.
- "We both have a pair — isn't it a tie?" If the pair is on the board, the pair is shared; the winner is decided by kickers.
- "I had a good hand, how did I lose?" Only the best five cards count — the board can give an opponent a better hand than the one you see in your own cards.
- "If I fold, do I have to show?" No. Folding ends your involvement; showing folded cards is a separate etiquette question and generally discouraged.
- "The dealer stays the same, right?" No — the button moves one seat clockwise every hand, so blinds and positions rotate.
- "These percentages don't match another site." Check the basis: probabilities for a five-card deal, a flop, or the best five from seven are three different sets of numbers. This article always states which one it uses.
If you know Pusoy Dos: in one common version its hands follow the same poker-style order, which makes these rankings easier to learn — but unlike Hold'em, suits can rank there, and the order varies by local rules. (For Mary Kim: verify with native Pusoy Dos players; rules differ by family and region, and we deliberately say "in one common version".) In Hold'em, suits never rank.
Position and the Button: Why Where You Sit Matters
Position is where you sit relative to the button, and it decides when you act. Acting later is better: you see what everyone else does — checks, bets, folds — before you decide. The player on the button acts last in every post-flop round, the best seat at the table; the seats just right of it (cutoff, hijack) are also valuable. The blinds act last before the flop but first after it; under the gun, the first seat left of the big blind, acts first and must play most cautiously.
Other sites claim "position is worth one rank of hand strength" — unsourced. The honest statement is qualitative: the later you act, the more information you have and the more hands you can play. Position, not the beauty of your cards, is the first thing experienced players check.
Visual: 9-max seat diagram with UTG, blinds, hijack, cutoff and button labelled.
Starting Hands: A Gentle First Filter
There are 1,326 possible two-card combinations, grouping into 169 distinct hand types when you ignore suits but keep "suited" vs "offsuit": 13 pairs, 78 suited and 78 offsuit. (Combinatorics; editor double-checks the arithmetic.) Beginners' single biggest leak is playing too many of them — roughly speaking, the bottom half of all hands loses money for new players.
You do not need a chart to memorise. A gentle filter for your first sessions:
- Strong: high pairs (aces through tens) and big suited cards (A-K, A-Q, K-Q suited) — play them confidently.
- Playable, with care: medium pairs, suited connectors like 8 7 in late position when nobody has raised.
- Avoid: weak offsuit hands (Q-5, J-2), especially from early positions. If you would not call a raise with it, do not open with it either.
Play tighter from under the gun and the blinds, looser on the button. Watching 20 hands you are not in teaches you more than playing 20 badly. To study hands seriously, see the training tools and basic stats (VPIP, PFR) on our software page.
Visual: small tier grid (strong · playable · avoid), no percentages.
Pot Odds and Outs in Plain Words
Two ideas turn "should I call?" from a feeling into a calculation.
Outs are the cards that improve your hand to what you think will win. If you have four cards to a flush on the flop, nine cards of your suit remain in the deck — you have 9 outs.
Pot odds are the price of a call versus what you can win: your required winning chance = call ÷ (pot after your call). Example in chips: pot 90, your opponent bets 10, you must call 10 to continue. Pot after your call: 110, so you need to win roughly 9% of the time (10 ÷ 110 ≈ 9.1%) for a call to break even. Win 20% of the time — calling is profitable; win 5% — folding is correct, however "close" it feels.
The rule of 2 and 4 turns outs into a percentage: multiply your outs by 4 with two cards still to come (on the flop), by 2 with one card to come (on the turn). With 9 outs: 9 × 4 ≈ 36% on the flop (exact: about 35%), and 9 × 2 ≈ 18% on the turn (exact: about 19%). An approximation, slightly optimistic, fine for table decisions. (Competitor guides often mix up ×2 and ×4: the ×4 shortcut only applies with two cards to come. Editor re-verifies.)
Compare the two numbers: if your winning chance (rule of 2 and 4) is higher than the required percentage (pot odds), calling is defensible — if lower, fold.
Visual: worked example box (pot 90, bet 10 → need ~9%) + a 9-outs panel (flop: ~35%, turn: ~19%).
Filipino Corner: Poker Words in Tagalog and Taglish
Many Filipino players just use the English terms — in club games and live rooms you will hear "call", "raise" and "fold" far more often than any translation. But if you are more comfortable in Tagalog, or playing at home with family and friends, these equivalents help. (All translations below require verification by a native speaker — Mary Kim — before publication; where usage is uncertain we keep the English term.)
| English | Tagalog / Taglish | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Playing cards | baraha | From Spanish baraja. |
| Hand (cards) | kamay | Literally "hand". |
| To fold | tiklop | Literally "to fold"; English "fold" is common in play. |
| Bet / wager | taya | Common word for any wager. |
| To call | sumabay ("to go along") or "call" | English usually used at the table. |
| To raise | magtaas ("to raise") or "raise" | — |
| Check | usually "check" | — |
| Pot | pot | English term used. |
| Community / board cards | community cards or board | — |
| Blinds | "blinds" | English used. |
| Showdown | showdown | English used. |
| Kicker | "kicker" | — |
A full Filipino (Taglish) version of this guide — "Paano maglaro ng Texas Hold'em" — is planned as a separate page once the Tagalog layer here is verified.
Where to Practise Safely: Play Money, Friends and the Law
The best way to learn is without money at risk: play-money tables in apps, or at home with friends without stakes, where you can talk through hands openly. In the PPPoker app, play-money ("gold") games exist alongside club games; any real-money arrangements happen outside the app, with clubs and their agents — we explain that model, and its risks, on our real-money page and in the safety review. We never recommend specific rooms, clubs or agents.
Two legal facts matter. First, the minimum gambling age in the Philippines is 21 under PAGCOR rules — our site applies 21+ in all cases. Second, the online landscape is complicated: licensed domestic operators, the POGO ban and club-style apps are three different situations — our article on online poker legality in the Philippines covers each with sources. If gambling ever stops being fun, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is (02) 8248 9568 (npgh.ph).
Knowing the rules protects you from being cheated by confusion — but no knowledge of rankings makes gambling a way to earn. One honest caveat: play for fun, never for income.
Before you play for money — checklist: 1. Am I 21 or older? 2. Do I understand exactly how money moves (and who holds it)? 3. Is the platform's licence checkable — and checked? 4. Am I playing with money I can afford to lose? 5. Would I be comfortable stopping today if I lost it?
8 Mistakes Beginners Make (and How to Avoid Them)
- Misreading kickers. Losing with "the same pair" because the other player's side card is higher. Fix: always count all five cards, best five first.
- Ignoring the board. Seeing your own two cards and forgetting what the five community cards give everyone. Fix: before betting, read the board — what hands could it complete?
- Playing too many hands. Curiosity is expensive. Fix: fold more than feels natural; watch hands you are not in.
- Ignoring position. Playing the same hands from every seat. Fix: tighten up early, loosen up on the button.
- Chasing draws without checking the price. Calling big bets with a flush draw that does not pay. Fix: use outs × 2 or 4, compare with pot odds — see the section above.
- Playing stakes that hurt. Chips that represent money you need change your decisions for the worse. Fix: practise with play money or tiny home-game stakes; 21+.
- Playing tired or emotional. "Tilt" — playing worse after a bad beat — costs more than any bad rule. Fix: leave the table; the game will exist tomorrow.
- Not knowing the ranking order cold. Hesitating at showdown. Fix: use the cheat sheet below until the order is automatic.
Sources (numbered, with check dates)
- Tournament Directors Association (TDA) — Poker Tournament Rules (current edition) — action order, minimum raise, heads-up blinds, odd chip, showdown order (checked 2026-10-13)
- Poker probability — seven-card hand frequencies, total 133,784,560 combinations (recomputed and cross-checked 2026-10-13)
- Standard no-limit / pot-limit / fixed-limit betting structures — common casino conventions (checked 2026-10-13)
- PAGCOR — Responsible Gaming (age 21+) — pagcor.ph (checked 2026-10-13)
- National Problem Gambling Helpline — npgh.ph (number to be re-verified on publication day)
This page is for education only and is not gambling, legal or financial advice. See our disclaimer and editorial policy.
Play responsibly
This guide is for readers aged 21 and over. Poker involves real-money risk, and no guide or tool can promise winnings.
Signs of problem gambling
- You play to escape stress, boredom or bad feelings.
- You spend more money or time than you planned, or keep playing to win back losses.
- You borrow money, sell things or use money meant for bills and food to play.
- You hide how much you play from family or friends, or lie about it.
- You feel restless or irritable when you try to cut down, and you cannot stop.
- Work, study or relationships suffer because of your play.
Help in the Philippines
- National Problem Gambling Helpline (NPGH), a PAGCOR-accredited service: (02) 8248-9568, www.npgh.ph
- NCMH Crisis Hotline (National Center for Mental Health): 1553. Free mental-health support if gambling is affecting how you feel.
- PAGCOR, the gaming regulator: www.pagcor.ph
Set a budget and a time limit before you play, take breaks and never play with money you need for living expenses. More in our disclaimer.
Update log
Published 13 October 2026. Last updated 13 October 2026. Every change that affects a fact is listed here.
- First published after a fact-check by the editor.
