How to Play Texas Hold'em: Rules & Betting

The complete flow of a Texas Hold'em hand: two hole cards, the blinds, four betting rounds, and showdown, from deal to winner.

How your two private hole cards fuse with the five shared community cards to build your best five-card hand.

Learn the six 6-max positions, why acting last is a massive edge, and how the button rotates each hand.

Learn which of the 169 Texas Hold'em starting hands to play and which to fold, from premium pairs to suited connectors.

Learn raise-first-in ranges by position: why UTG plays tight, why the button opens wide, and why the baseline is open-raise or fold with no limping.

The flop shows three cards and reshapes your hand instantly. Learn to sort hits, draws, and misses, read board texture, and know whether you're betting a made hand or chasing a draw.

The c-bet is the most common bet in Hold'em: as the preflop raiser, you fire again on the flop to press the strong range you already showed. Learn why it works, which boards to fire, and when to shut it down.

Learn when to fire a second barrel with strong hands and draws, when to slow down and control the pot with medium hands, and how the turn card reshapes the board and the size of the pot.

The final card is pure value versus bluff. Learn to bet strong hands for value, catch bluffs with medium holdings, and give up cleanly when you can't win.

Learn to count outs, convert them to equity with the rule of 2 and 4, and compare that equity to the pot-odds price to make profitable calls on your draws.

The five preflop leaks that quietly cost you money — too many hands, limping, dominated calls, ignoring position, and over-loving small pairs — and how to plug them.

The handful of postflop leaks that quietly drain the average player's stack — and how to plug each one.

Two complete Texas Hold'em hands played street by street, tying together position, board reading, ranges and pot odds so every decision has a reason behind it.

The Block 2 capstone: 28 questions covering every Texas Hold'em fundamental you've learned, from the rules and hand ranks to position, pot odds, c-betting, and the mistakes to avoid.