Texas Holdem Poker

Poker is the most popular card game played widely across the world, and Texas Hold'em poker is the most popular poker variant. It is not only popular amongst poker pros, but even poker beginners prefer starting with Texas Holdem when learning how to play poker due to its simple rules and hand rankings.

While this poker variant is the ideal game for poker beginners, learning how to play texas holdem poker can be complex to understand initially. But here's everything you need (poker rules, gameplay, hand rankings, and more) to know to learn how to play this fun poker variant and win the pot.

What is Texas Holdem Poker?

Texas Hold'em is the most popular and widely played poker variant among all available types of poker variants. The popularity of this variant is high amongst all poker players, and many players only learn the Texas Hold'em variant. All the poker tournaments in the world, including the World Poker Tour, the World Series of Poker, and the European poker Tour, feature no-limit Texas Holdem games.

The simple rules, gameplay, and hand rankings make the game easy to learn and popular amongst poker beginners. The game can be played between 2 to 10 players with a standard 52-card deck.

Learn the below Texas Hold'em poker rules and gameplay to participate in MPL Poker cash games and tournaments and win real money!

Texas Holdem Poker Rules

The way the players make poker hands in this variant differs from that of draw poker. Here are the basic rules of texas holdem.

The dealer deals two hole cards, face down, to each player in the game.

The dealer then deals five more cards, face up and placed at the centre of the table over several betting rounds.

The face-up cards are also called the community cards. These are common cards that each player uses in combination with their private hole cards to make the best possible five-card poker hand.

The dealer deals the five community cards over the below three stages:

In the Flop stage, the dealer deals the first three community cards.

In the Turn stage, the dealer deals the fourth community card.

In the River stage, the dealer deals the fifth and the last community card.

In total, each player has seven cards (two individual hole cards and five community cards) to make the best hand using five cards. The players can make their five-card hands by combining their two hole cards with three community cards, combining one hole cards with four community cards, or using no hole cards at all. The players can use all of the five community cards on the table to make a five-card hand combination if that leads to the best hand.

All the players have four betting options while playing the game: check, call, raise, or fold. In the betting rounds, if all players, except one player, fold, the remaining player is the winner of the pot without having to show their cards. Therefore, it is not necessary for a player to always hold the best hand to win. You can use your bluffing skills to bluff the other players that you have the best hand and get them to fold their hands.

After the dealer deals the last community card and two or more players remain after the betting till the Showdown, the only way the player can win the pit is by making the highest-ranking poker hands of five cards.

Key takeaways:

In simple terms, Texas Holdem is played over several betting rounds, such as the pre-flop, the flop, the turn, the river, and the showdown.

Each player is dealt two hole cards and up to five community cards, and the goal is to use the hole cards in combination with the community cards to make the best possible five-card poker hand and win the pot.

To win the game, the player needs to make the highest poker hand unless all players leave the game before the showdown.

Keeping these basic rules in mind, take a look at the betting structure, hand rankings, and the gameplay of texas holdem.

Texas Hold'em Poker Hands & Rankings

The poker hands for texas holdem games are quite similar to other poker games but may slightly differ in ranking. Here are the poker hand rankings used in texas holdem.

Royal Flush

The Royal Flush hand is the highest possible and the best hand but it is quite difficult to make the hand as its occurrence is rare. This hand is made with five cards of the same suit from Ace to 10. For example, A♥️ K♥️ Q♥️ J♥️ 10♥️.

Straight Flush

The Straight Flush hand is the second-highest hand on the poker hand rankings chart. To make a straight flush, you should have five consecutively ranked cards of the same suit. For example, 10♦️ 9♦️ 8♦️ 7♦️ 6♦️.

Four of a Kind

To make a Four of a Kind hand, you need to combine four cards of the same rank and one card of a different rank. For example, 10♦️ 10♥️ 10♠️ 10♣️ 4♣️.

Full House

You make a Full House hand when you have three cards of the same rank and two cards of a different rank. For instance, K♦️ K♥️ K♠️ 6♣️ 6♦️.

Flush

The Flush hand is made by combining five cards of the same suit but not of a consecutive rank. For instance, Q ♠️10♦️ 9♠️ 6♣️ 4♥️.

Straight

The Straight hand can be made by combining any five cards of different suits but ranked consecutively. For instance, Q♥️ J♦️ 10♣️ 9♠️ 8♣️.

Three of a Kind

A Three of a Kind hand is made by combining three cards of the same rank and two cards of different ranks each. For instance, J♥️ J♣️ J♦️ 9♠️ K♣️.

Two Pair

To make the Two Pair hand, you need to combine two cards of the same rank, two other cards of the same rank, and one card of a different rank. For instance, 10♣️ 10♦️ 7♠️ 7♣️ J♦️.

One Pair

A One Pair hand is made by combining two cards of the same rank and three cards each of different ranks. For instance, Q♠️ Q♦️ 10♥️ 8♠️ 5♣️.

High Card

A High Card hand, also known as No Pair hand, is a combination of five unmatched cards. For instance, A♦️ 10♠️ 7 ♣️5 ♥️4 ♦️is called an Ace High.

When playing Texas Hold'em, players make any of the above hands by combining five cards from their two individual hole cards and five shared community cards. The hands are ranked from Royal Flush (highest) to High Card (lowest).

The player with the highest hand wins the pot. However, if there's a tie between two similar hands, the rules to determine the winning hands state that the highest-ranked card at the top of a sequence wins.

How to Play Texas Holdem Poker?

Once you have learned the basic rules and hand rankings of the texas holdem, it is time to get into the depths of the game and learn how to play poker. Here are the critical aspects of the game, including betting rounds, dealing, objective, gameplay, blinds, and table positions.

Objective

The players take turns to bet before and after the cards are revealed. All players put forwards the same amount of chips in the pot if they wish to stay in the hand and receive the next card. The objective is to make the best possible five card poker hand and win the entire pot.

The Button

The button is a circular disc in front of a player which is rotated one death to the left in every hand. The players take turns to bet in a clockwise direction starting with the player to the left of the dealer button. In casinos and poker rooms, the player that has the dealer button in front of them, doesn't deal the cards. However, when players play poker in a group at home, the player with the dealer button deals the hands.

The first two players at the left of the button make s small blind and big blind to start the betting. After the blinds are set, the players take action across different betting rounds explained in the Betting Rounds section.

In Texas holdem games, the player seated in front of the dealer button or the last active player who was closest to the button, receives the latest action on all post-flop rounds of betting. The button determines the players who will make the small and big blinds and also from where the dealing will begin.

Dealing

Each player is dealt two hole cards face down. Starting from the player seated at the immediate left of the dealer button, the dealer deals a card, face down, one at a time, to each player in a clockwise direction until each player has received two cards.

In the subsequent betting rounds, the dealer deals a total of five community cards and places them at the centre of the table. The dealer deals three community cards face up at once, then another community card face up in the next betting round, and the fifth community card face up in the another round of betting. The five common community cards are used by all the players to make their five-card poker hand.

Blinds

Before initiating each hand, two players to the left of the button must make a small and big blind. Blinda are forced bets to begin the betting rounds. Blinds are required in the Texas Holdem games because without the blinds players may not bet and contribute to the pot which will make the game boring if each player wait to be dealt pocket aces (AA) to start playing.

The player seated to the immediate left of the button makes a small blind and the player to their immediate left makes the big blind.

Small Blind is usually half the amount of the big blind. For instance if the big blind is $2, the small blind is $1. However, that may vary from one poker room to another or on the game.

Essentially, the blinds ensure that there is some level of actin in each hand. In poker cash games, the blinds stay the same always while in poker tournaments, the blinds are raised in regular intervals. This is because the number of players keep decreasing and the stacks of the active players increase. So, it is important that the blinds also keep increasing during the tournament.

Betting Rounds

Once the dealer deals two hole cards to each player in a face down position, the betting rounds begin, the first being Pre-flop and followed by another round of betting after the first is completed. Take a look at how to play texas holdem within each betting round and win the pot.

First round of betting: Pre-Flop

After the dealer deals two hole cards, face down, to each player, the first round of betting takes place and it is called the Pre-Flop. The player seated at the left of the big blind acts first. Because the player is required to act first, their position is called 'under the gun'. The player can choose an action from the three available options:

Call: The player can choose to call by matching the amount of the big blind.

Raise: The player can choose to raise by increasing the bet amount (within the specified game limit).

Fold: If the player has a weak hand, they can also choose to fold by throwing their hand away and opting out of the game. If the player folds, they cannot win the current hand anymore.

When playing Pot-Limit Texas Holdem, the players can choose to bet an amount between the big blind, which is the minimum bet allowed, and up to the total amount in the pot at that moment.

When playing No-Limit Texas Holdem, the opening raise must be at least double of the big blind and the maximum raise can be an all-in bet where the player raises with all the chips in their stack.

When playing Fixed-Limit Texas Holdem, the the raise must be exactly twice the big blind.

After the first player makes a move, the other players take turns to make an action in a clockwise manner, choosing from the three available actions. The action is closed right after the last bet and the preflop round of betting ends.

Second round of betting: The Flop

After the first round of betting is over, the dealer deals the first three community cards face up and places them at the centre of the table. These community cards are common for each player on the table. Then, the second round of betting, also called the Flop, begins amongst the active players (players who did not fold in the previous round).

In the Flop betting round and all the subsequent ones after this, the first active player seated at the left of the button starts the action.

Now, the players have the options to bet, call, fold, raise, and check. A player can check if no other player, who has made an action, has bet already. Check implies that the player is passing the action to the next player in the hand.

The betting round continues until the a player calls the last bet or raise and closes the action. The round of betting also ends if every player chooses to check around the table.

Third round of betting: The Turn

After the second round of betting, the dealer deals the fourth community card face up and places it at the centre of the table. The third round of betting then takes place called the Turn.

The active players take turns in a clockwise direction to make actions (check, bet, fold, call, or raise) until the betting is complete. the first active player seated at the left of the button starts the action and the process of betting is similar to the previous betting round.

Final round of betting: The River

To begin the fifth and final round of betting, also called the River, the dealer deals the last community card, following the betting action on the Turn. The dealer places the card face up at the centre of the table along with the other four community cards.

The round of betting begins where each active player makes an action (check, bet, fold, call, or raise) until the betting is complete. After all players make their betting actions, the remaining players with hole cards expose their hand. Based on each player's hand, the best hand is determined and that player is the winner. This is also called the Showdown.

The Showdown

In the Showdown, the remaining players show/expose their hole cards and the dealer determines which player's hand wins the pot according to the poker hand rankings. The winning player is the one with the best five-card poker hand combination.

Play Texas Holdem Online

Now that you have been acquainted with all the texas hold'em poker rules, you can easily get started with the game online. MPL offers the best platform to start playing Texas Hold'em with thousands of real players online on your mobile devices or desktop. All you need is your preferred devices, a stable internet connection, and some fun minutes to play this exciting game and up your skills to win real money. Follow the below steps to get started with Texas Hold'em Poker on MPL.

How to play Texas Hold'em on Mobile:

Download the MPL app on your Android or iOS device.

Register using your mobile number and sign up on the app.

Search for the Poker game and choose the Texas Hold'em variant.

The MPL app offers multiple cash contests for Texas Hold'em poker. Choose a preferred game to enter based on the number of players on a table and the entry fee.

Submit the entry fee and wait for the required number of players to join. The wait time is almost negligible!

Once the game begins, follow the game objective and texas holdem poker rules, and use your poker skills and strategies to win the pot.

How to play Texas Hold'em on Desktop?

Poker is the most popular card game, and poker pros absolutely adore playing their favourite game on a desktop due to the sheer comfort and ease of multi-tabling. If you are a poker pro or a beginner and love the idea of a seamless poker experience on a bigger screen to play for long hours on multiple tables simultaneously, MPL offers desktop poker to cater to your needs. Here's how you can play Texas Hold'em on your desktop:

Ensure you have an active account on the MPL app to play MPL poker on the desktop.

Visit MPL Desktop Poker and log in to your account. Enter your mobile number, and you will receive an OTP to log in.

Select one or more poker games from a wide range of cash tables.

Submit the entry fee for each game and wait for the required number of players to join.

You can change the view of the tables on your screen and select the auto-adjust feature to adjust all tables on a single screen or only view a single table.

Once the game/s begin/s, follow the game objective and texas holdem poker rules, and use your multi-table poker skills and strategies to win the pot.