No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Rules
Chances are that when you think about poker, you’re thinking about Texas No-Limit Hold’em.
While it’s one of the dozens of poker variants out there, it’s no doubt the most popular. Chris Moneymaker’s historic 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event win? No-Limit Hold’em. Iconic poker scenes from movies like “Rounders” or “Casino Royale”? They’re playing No-Limit Hold’em.
If you walk into any cardroom around the world and they’re playing poker, they’re probably playing No-Limit Hold’em. Part of the appeal behind this variant is that it’s easy to learn, but takes a lifetime to master. We’re here to help you with the first part and hopefully get you started down the right path towards mastering this game.
Texas Hold’em Rules Overview. Texas Hold’em can be played using limit, pot-limit, or no-limit. Short-deck poker can be played according to the exact same rules as regular Texas Hold'em. The betting can be fixed-limit or no-limit (although most often the game is played no-limit), and the same. No Limit Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker game and is played by millions worldwide. In need of a single article to learn all those Poker Rules and kick start your poker career? Look no further.
In this guide, we’ll teach you the basic rules of NLHE, how betting works and we’ll explain the different types of Hold’em out there. After that, we’ll leave you with some resources that can help you develop your game. After that, it’s up to you to study, play and practice to become the best NLHE player you can be.
But before we get into that, let’s start with the basics.
What is Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is a poker variant with roots in Robstown, Texas that date back to the early 1900s. The game’s simplicity, but never-ending depth led to an increase in popularity. The game crept its way to Las Vegas and then started spreading after it became the format of the World Series of Poker Main Event.
Things really picked up after Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event for $2 million dollars after winning a $86 qualifier online. This led to a huge online poker boom in the United States and around the world. That’s how Texas Hold’em came to be the dominant poker variant out there.
As you’ll see, the rules and set up are easy enough. But once you get past the basics, there’s a never-ending road to mastery. There’s always a dash of luck keeping things interesting too. You can play with a minimum of two people and tournaments can have tens of thousands of players.
If you only have a single deck of cards and one table, the maximum recommended number of players is 10. It’s great to have poker chips or something to gamble with like pennies or dried beans, but if you’re in a pinch, little pieces of paper can work too.
How to play Texas No-Limit Hold’em
The game is simple, take your opponents money. Doing it is a bit more complicated.
You take their money by betting on five-card poker hands. Every players’ hand is made up of two hole cards and five community cards. Your hole cards are private and the community cards are for everyone. You make your hand with any mix of the two. You can use both, one or none of your hole cards when building your hand.
At the beginning of each hand, every player gets dealt two cards, face down. These are your hole cards and they’re just for you. After that, players start betting.
Preflop
You’ll often hear poker players talk about position: late, early, on the button. Betting in poker isn’t a first-come-first-serve scenario, there’s always a strict order that’s dictated by the button.
A random player starts with the button and it moves left after every hand. The player to the left of the button posts a mandatory bet called the small blind and the player to their left posts the big blind, which is twice the size of the big blind.
In tournaments, the blinds are always rising, but in cash games they stay the same unless players decide to change it.
After the hand is dealt, the player to the left of the big blind starts. That player can either check, fold, call the big blind or raise. Action switches from player to player. The players who bet and called then make it on to the next round.
If everyone folds to a bet or raise, the hand ends there.
Flop
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the flop. This is where the first three community cards get dealt. While you may have hit a hand, there are still two more cards to go. So if you need one or two cards to hit a flush or a straight, you’re now hoping they’ll show up later on in the hand.
After the flop is dealt, action moves to the player on the button’s left. Remember after the flop, the button always goes last. If both players check or there’s a called bet, players move onto the turn.
Turn
This is the fourth community card and it plays out just like the flop. Action starts with the player on the button’s left and keeps going until everyone’s folded or called.
River
This is it, the last card. The final stage of the hand. At this point, you either hit your hand or you haven’t. This starts the final round of betting and then players show down their hands to see who won.
Poker Hand Rankings
So now that you know the mechanics of how a hand plays out, let’s see how these hands rank.
The hand rankings from low to high are:
- High card
- Pair
- Two-pair
- Three-of-a-kind
- Straight
- Flush
- Full house
- Four-of-a-kind
- Straight flush
- Royal flush
Again, this is using a combination of your hole cards and the community cards. Check out our poker hand rankings page for a more detailed breakdown of poker hand rankings.
Limits
You might’ve noticed that we’ve used the term No-Limit Texas Hold’em and just Texas Hold’em. The “No-Limit” refers to the way you can bet in the game. There are a few different betting styles in Texas Hold’em including: Limit, Pot-Limit and No-Limit.
The most popular version is No-Limit, and that means there’s no limit to what you can bet at any stage of the hand. The minimum is a big blind and the maximum is as much as you have. That means you can raise all-in whenever you want.
In Limit, the amount you can bet is a fixed amount. You can only bet or raise by that same amount. Bets are capped at four bets.
Pot-Limit means the maximum you can bet is what’s already in the pot. So if you’re starting a hand with $1/$2 blinds, you can raise to $5. That’s $3 from the blinds and a $2 of your “call” for a total raise to $5.
Cash games and tournaments
Aside from the different types of betting, there are different types of poker formats. In cash games, the blinds are always the same, you sit down with real money and can cash out whenever you’re done playing. For example, you sit down with $100 and if you win $200, you can stand up and walk away with $300.
In a tournament, everyone buys in for the same amount and gets a set number of chips. The blinds rise until one player is left standing. In tournaments, a percentage of the field makes money back. This depends on every tournament and it is usually from 20 percent of the field to 10 percent.
The biggest reward always goes to first place. The World Series of Poker Main Event is a tournament, and so is most of the poker you see on TV. Sit & Gos are like a mini-tournament. They can be as small as one table or encompass several.
Texas No-Limit Hold’em Resources
So now you know the basics, time to set you down your road of poker mastery. If you’re ready to get going check out our online poker site reviews to see which site matches you the best:
Still not confident enough to plunk down some real money? No worries, you can start playing online for free! Most sites offer freerolls to players, these are free-to-play tournaments that reward real cash if you do well enough.
While practice is the best way to improve your game, it should always go accompanied by some good studying. There are tons of poker books, forums, and training websites out there to help you improve your game.
“Harrington on Hold’em” by Dan Harrington is a great place to get started. If you want a wealth of information and a place to discuss any questions you might have, the TwoPlusTwo Forums have been offering invaluable poker knowledge for years. Poker coaching is a bit pricey, but a great option for players who really want to work on their game. Some great players also livestream poker, so you can search for poker on Twitch and
In the early twentieth century, a new variation of poker known as Hold’em was born in Robstown, Texas. This new poker variation called for its players to share five common cards and combine them with two private hole cards to make the best possible 5-card hand. Some of the earliest players called Hold’em a “thinking man’s game” because this new way of playing allowed poker players to take control of their own fates and utilize a wide variety of strategies.
Texas Hold’em quickly spread throughout Texas and in 1967 it became accepted in some Las Vegas casinos. For decades, Texas Hold’em was popular among professional poker players, but it remained relatively unknown to the general public. It would take three more decades before Texas Hold’em could finally exploded into the mainstream culture and become one of the most popular poker games in the world. Texas Holdem poker sites are the most common form of poker played online.
Rules for Playing Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em typically accommodates up to 9-10 players, but as few as two can play the game at a time. There is a dealer chip, known as the ‘button’, that is passed clockwise after each round to designate player position for the blinds or antes. Typically the player sitting to the left of the dealer chip pays the ‘small blind’ and the player sitting to their left pays the ‘big blind’. The big blind is generally twice the size of the small blind. Once both blinds have been posted, every player is dealt two cards, face down (known as ‘hole cards’), and the game begins.
After all of the hole cards have been dealt, the player to the left of the big blind can start the initial, ‘pre-flop’ round of betting. These first bets must be at least the size of the table’s minimum bet and the betting continues clockwise until each player has either:
No Limit Texas Hold Em Rules
- Bet as much as every other player by ‘calling’ bets and raises.
- Bet their entire bankroll.
- Folded their cards and withdrawn from the hand.
Wsop Texas Hold'em No Limit
The two players who posted blinds can apply the value of these blinds towards their pre-flop bets. Assuming there are still two or more players remaining in the game after the pre-flop round of betting, the dealer will proceed to burn the card on the top of the deck (remove it from play) and deal the first three community cards, face up, in the center of the table. These first three cards are known as the ‘flop’ and are part of every player’s hand. After the flop is dealt, the second round of betting takes place.
This pattern of burning a card, dealing to the community hand, and completing a round of betting continues throughout the game. After the flop, the ‘turn’ card (fourth community card) is dealt, and finally the ‘river’ (fifth and final community card) is dealt; in total there are four rounds of betting. After the final round of betting, if more than one player is still in the game, all players must flip their hole cards and the player with the best five card hand is awarded the pot. If two or more players have equally valued hands, then they split the pot evenly.
Going All-In in Texas Holdem No Limit
If you don’t have enough money to call a previous bet or if you want to put your full bankroll on the table in the form of a raise, you can choose to go ‘all-in’. When you go all-in, you can remain in the round without having to make any further wagers. Often tournaments require any player who goes all-in to flip their hole cards face up, though cash games generally do not have this rule.
No Limit Texas Holdem Poker Strategy
After you go all in, any further bets placed by your opponents are placed in a side pot. Only players who contribute to the side pot are eligible to win these funds. If you win a hand after going all in, players who wagered more money than you, in the form of a side pot, get the difference returned to them.