The rules of Poker.
Texas Hold’em is the most played form of poker in the world, for 2–6 players with 52 cards: each player gets two face-down cards, five community cards are turned up on the table, and the best five-card hand takes the pot. Here it’s played No-Limit, as a tournament: everyone starts with 1,000 points, the blinds double along the way, and the last player with points wins. Not played for money.
House rules, checked against the engine that applies them · updated
- Players
- 2–6
- Length
- 30–90 min
- Difficulty
- Strategic
- Leaderboard
- Yes
How to play.
Two cards in hand, five on the table — be the last one with points.
- 01♠
The tournament
- The game is No-Limit Texas Hold’em, with a 52-card deck and no jokers. Each player starts with 1,000 points.
- Points are worth no money and can’t be bought: they are the tournament’s chips. Anyone who runs out of points is out of the tournament.
- The last player with points wins. The others are placed in reverse order of elimination: the last one out takes 2nd place.
- Two players eliminated in the same hand are placed by the points they started that hand with; if those are equal, they share the place.
- 02♥
The blinds
Level Small blind Big blind 1 5 10 2 10 20 3 20 40 4 40 80 5 80 160 6 160 320 7 320 640 8 640 1,280 … double double - Before each hand, the two players to the left of the button post the blinds: the small blind and the big blind. The big blind is also the minimum bet.
- The blinds DOUBLE at the start of a hand, but only when at least the minutes chosen when the table was opened have passed AND at least 3 hands have been played at that level. The host picks 2 minutes (Fast), 5 (Normal) or 10 (Slow); if nothing was picked, it’s 2.
- The 3 hands are required at every speed. If only two have been played when the minutes are up, one more is played, and the fourth starts with doubled blinds.
- A player who can’t cover a blind puts in everything they have and is all-in. The others still pay the full big blind to enter the hand.
- 03♦
The button
- The button shows who deals the hand. On the first hand it’s drawn at random, then it moves one seat each hand.
- The big blind ALWAYS moves to the next player still in the tournament, so nobody skips it. When someone is eliminated, the small blind or the button may sit on an empty seat for a hand — in that case the small blind isn’t paid. This is the “dead button” rule of official tournaments.
- With two players, the button is the small blind: it acts first before the flop and last after it. When play drops to two, nobody pays the big blind twice in a row.
- 04♣
The hand, step by step
- Each player gets two face-down cards that only they can see.
- Preflop: the player to the left of the big blind acts first, and the big blind acts last.
- Flop: three community cards are turned up. Turn: one more. River: the last one. A card is burned before each reveal. On the flop, turn and river, the first remaining player to the left of the button acts first.
- If everyone but one player folds, that player takes the pot without showing their hand.
- 05♠
What you can do on your turn
Action What it means Fold You throw in your cards: you give up the hand and everything you’ve already put in the pot. Check You pass without putting anything in — only if nobody has bet on this street. Call You pay what it takes to match the biggest bet on the table. Bet The first bet on a street: at least the big blind. Raise You increase the bet: by at least the size of the last full raise on this street. All-in You put in all your points. You can’t lose more than you have. - This is No-Limit: you can bet any amount, up to all your points.
- The minimum raise: if someone bet 40, you raise to at least 80. If someone then raises to 200 — that is, by 160 — the next raise must be to at least 360.
- An all-in smaller than a full raise does NOT reopen the betting for players who have already acted: they can only call or fold. Several short all-ins that together add up to a full raise do reopen it.
- 06♥
All-in and side pots
- An all-in player can win from each opponent at most what they put in themselves. Anything bet beyond that forms a side pot, played only by those who put into it.
- When nobody is left to bet, the remaining hands are shown and the community cards are turned up one by one.
- Any part of a bet that nobody covered goes back to the player who made it.
- 07♦
The showdown
- At the end, the players still in the hand show their cards. The best five-card combination out of the seven wins — your two and the five on the table, used in any way, even with none from your hand.
- On a tie the pot is split into equal parts. Suit never breaks a tie. A point that can’t be split evenly goes to the first winner to the left of the button.
- Each side pot is split separately.
- Folded cards are never shown.
- 08♣
Hand rankings
Hand What it is Example Royal flush 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit 10♥ J♥ Q♥ K♥ A♥ Straight flush five cards in a row, of the same suit 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠ Four of a kind four cards of the same rank 9♣ 9♦ 9♥ 9♠ K♦ Full house three of one rank and two of another K♣ K♦ K♥ 7♠ 7♥ Flush five cards of the same suit A♦ J♦ 8♦ 4♦ 2♦ Straight five cards in a row, of different suits 6♣ 7♦ 8♥ 9♠ 10♣ Three of a kind three cards of the same rank Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ 9♣ 4♠ Two pair two pairs of different ranks J♥ J♣ 5♦ 5♠ A♣ Pair two cards of the same rank A♠ A♦ K♣ 8♥ 3♦ High card no combination: the highest card counts A♣ Q♦ 9♥ 6♠ 3♣ - The ace is the highest card, but it also stands for 1 in the straight A-2-3-4-5, which is the lowest straight.
- Between two hands of the same category, ranks decide, in order: for a pair, first the pair, then the three remaining cards — the kickers.
- 09♠
Thinking time
- The host picks the pace when opening the table: 10 or 30 seconds per decision, or no timer. While no match is running, the host can change it in the table settings. The timer is shown on the table.
- In poker nobody is eliminated for hesitating. If you run out of time, the table checks for you when it costs nothing, otherwise it folds your hand — and you go on a break.
- On a break you stay in the tournament, but your blinds keep being taken and your hands play themselves: check or fold. Press “Back to the game” any time and the decisions are yours again.
- If you stand up or leave the table during the tournament, you’re out of it: your points leave the game, and whatever you’ve already put in the pot stays with the others.
Rules differ from one place to another. The tables here play the version written above, so everyone plays by the same rules.
Do you play it differently?
The most common variants of Poker, and what happens with each one at the tables here.
Poker for moneynot played here
The version where chips are worth money and you buy in for as much as you like. NOT here: it isn’t played for money, points can’t be bought, and everyone starts the tournament with the same 1,000.
Limit Hold’emnot played here
Bets have fixed sizes on each street. Here it’s No-Limit: you can bet any amount, up to all your points.
Omahanot played here
Four cards in hand, of which you use exactly two. It’s a different game; here each player gets two and uses them any way they like.
Antes at high levelsnot played here
In many tournaments, from a certain level on, everyone also puts in a small amount before the hand. There are no antes here: only the small blind and the big blind.
Blinds rise strictly by the clocknot played here
In most tournaments the level changes on the minute. Here it also takes at least three hands at each level, so a level can’t pass without being played.
Dead buttonplayed here
The rule of official tournaments: the big blind never skips anyone, and the button may stay on an empty seat for a hand. Played here too.
How to play better.
Position is worth a card
Whoever acts last sees what the others did before deciding. Play middling hands from the seats near the button, not from the first seats after the big blind, where the whole table acts after you.
Not every ace is a hand
A-7 of different suits often loses to an ace with a better kicker. A pair of aces made with a weak kicker is a hand that costs you dearly all the way to the river.
Work out the pot odds
If the pot holds 90 and it costs you 30, you put in 30 to win 120: a one-in-four chance is enough. With four cards of the same suit after the flop, you have about one in three to make the flush by the river.
Blinds go up, patience goes down
At 1,000 points and 5/10 blinds you have time. At 160/320, each trip around the table costs you nearly half your stack. The higher the blinds, the more often you get into hands — ideally first in, with an all-in, not by calling.
What’s on the table belongs to everyone
A pair turned up on the table belongs to everyone still in the hand. What counts is what YOUR hand does with the community cards, not how pretty the table looks.
A break costs you
If you run out of time, you go on a break, and your blinds keep being taken without you playing. Press “Back to the game” as soon as you return to the table.
Questions about Poker.
- How many players can play Poker?
- Between 2 and 6. The seats are chosen when the table opens, and any left empty can be taken by bots.
- How many cards do you start with in Poker?
- Two each, face down, seen only by the player holding them. Then 5 community cards are turned on the table: 3 on the flop, one on the turn and one on the river.
- How long does a match of Poker take?
- About 30–90 min. The host sets the pace: 10 or 30 seconds per move, or no timer at all.
- Can I play Poker against the computer?
- Yes. The host can seat bots in the empty seats, at two skill levels. But the moment the first bot sits down, the table drops off the leaderboard: a bot has no rating to put at stake.
- Do Poker matches count toward the leaderboard?
- Yes, as long as everyone at the table is human. Each game has its own leaderboard, with an Elo-style rating that starts at 1000.
- Do I need an account to play Poker?
- To sit at a table, yes. The rules above, the catalog and the leaderboards can be read without one, and you can watch an open table from the sidelines.
- Does it cost anything to play Poker here?
- No. The site is free: no subscriptions, no in-game payments and no playing for money. The account is free too.
Now you know the rules.
Create a table and play — no account needed.