Texas Hold’em, from first hand to final table.
The rules, the math, and the modern strategy — delivered as working tools, not a wall of text. Built by players who've put in the reps online, so you can start beating the games instead of just playing them.
First, the rules.
Texas Hold'em is four betting rounds, five community cards, and one unchanging goal: make the best five-card hand from any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards. Everything else is strategy.
Objective
Win chips, either by having the best five-card hand at showdown or by betting so your opponents fold. You don’t have to use both hole cards.
The deal
The button rotates clockwise each hand. The player left of the button posts the small blind; next, the big blind. Cards go one at a time, clockwise, starting with the small blind.
Winning the pot
Either (a) every other player folds, or (b) you reach showdown with the best five-card hand. Ties split the pot chip-for-chip.
No-limit Hold’em means you can bet any amount of your chips, at any time, as long as it’s at least the size of the previous bet or raise. This single rule is why the game has the depth it does.
Two cards to you, five on the board, best five wins. Betting rounds punctuate the deal: pre-flop, flop, turn, river. No-limit means you can shove (go all in) at any time.
What do I have?
Rather than re-list the hand rankings here, use the tool below. Pick your cards, see your made hand, and link straight through to the full rankings page when you want the complete chart.
Every hand is four decisions.
Pre-flop, flop, turn, river. At each street you get new information and a new decision — fold, check/call, or bet/raise. Click through the streets below to see what happens at each.
Beginner trap: calling with “any two cards” pre-flop. Pre-flop is where the biggest edge lives. Fold 70% of hands from early seats and your win rate changes overnight.
Position is free equity.
If you remember one thing from this page, remember this: the seat you sit in determines how wide you can play. A hand that's a fold UTG is a snap-raise on the button.
Track your win rate by position for a month. You will discover two things: you lose most of your money from the blinds, and you make almost all of it from the cutoff and button. Everyone does.
Acting last is an information advantage. Tighten up early, loosen up late, fold almost everything from the blinds unless you’re getting a price.
The 169 hands, solved.
There are exactly 169 unique starting hands in Hold'em. This chart tells you which to play, from where. Use it until it's instinct.
Don’t memorize all five charts at once. Start with the button (widest range — you’ll play it most). Then the cutoff. Then UTG. Skip the blinds until you’ve logged 10K hands — the right play there is far more situational than a chart can express.
Pot odds, done at the table.
Every call in poker is a small bet that your hand has enough equity to beat the price you're being offered. Learn to do this in your head in under five seconds and you've internalized 40% of winning strategy.
The 2-and-4 rule: multiply your outs by 2 on the turn, by 4 on the flop, to estimate your equity. A flush draw with 9 outs is about 18% on the turn, 36% on the flop. Close enough to beat live players all day.
Theory meets the real table.
At the highest level, poker is a mix of two modes: the balanced math-solved default, and the pattern-reading deviation. Most players pick one. Pros fluently switch.
The right answer is almost always exploitative. GTO is the safety net — the strategy that guarantees you don’t get exploited when you’re wrong about a read. Start with GTO as a default, then deviate the moment you spot a pattern.
Start with GTO as a safety net. Deviate the moment you spot a pattern. The profit comes from the deviation, not the default.
Common questions.
What's the difference between Limit and No-Limit Hold'em?
In Limit, bets and raises are fixed sizes each street. In No-Limit, you can bet any amount up to your entire stack at any time. No-Limit is the dominant format because the ability to shove creates vastly more strategic depth — one big decision can be worth a thousand small ones.
How many chips should I start with in a cash game?
The standard is 100 big blinds. At $1/$2, that’s a $200 buy-in. This is the stack depth all modern strategy assumes. Short stacks (<50bb) play very differently — mostly shove-or-fold pre-flop and on flops.
What's a good win rate for a beginner?
Live low-stakes, a serious student should beat the game for 5–10 big blinds per hour after a year of focused study. Online, a good reg at micros makes 5–8 big blinds per 100 hands. If you break even in your first 6 months, you’re on track.
Do I need to memorize ranges?
Yes, but not all at once. Start with the button open range. Get that to second nature, then add the cutoff, then UTG, then the blinds. Most recreational players never memorize a single range — this alone puts you in the top 20%.
Is bluffing actually a big part of winning?
Less than TV makes it look. At recreational stakes, 80% of your profit comes from value-betting made hands, not bluffing. Bluff selectively and only when the story you’re telling makes sense. “Spewy” bluffs are the #1 leak in aggressive new players.
How do I know when to move up in stakes?
When your bankroll is 30+ buy-ins for the next level AND you’ve beaten your current stake for 100K hands online or 6 months live. Moving up on a heater is the fastest way to go broke.
Three ideas, and you’re ahead of most of the table.
You don't need to remember every chart and widget on this page. Internalize these three and the rest will follow.
Play fewer hands than you want to.
Discipline pre-flop is the single biggest edge available to you. If in doubt, fold.
Position, always.
Widen from late seats, tighten from early. Never call out of position without a plan.
Do the pot-odds math.
Every call is a micro-bet that your equity exceeds the price. Get fluent at estimating both in five seconds.