Texas Hold'em is a poker game for a group. Everyone gets two private cards, five shared cards are turned up in the middle, and you make the best five-card hand you can from any combination of the seven. Players commit chips over four rounds, and you can win without ever showing your cards. A hand takes 2-3 minutes.

What You Need

Players: 2-9 at one table. Six is a good home game.
Deck: One standard 52-card deck.
Extras: Chips, and a marker for the dealer button.

Key Terms

Hole cards: Your two private cards.
Community cards: The five shared cards in the middle. Everyone uses them.
Blinds: Two forced chip contributions made before the cards come out, so there is always something to play for.
Button: A marker showing who is the nominal dealer. It moves one seat left each hand and decides who acts first.
Check: Passing the action along without betting. Only allowed when nobody has bet yet.
Call: Matching the current chip contribution. Raise: increasing it. Fold: giving up your hand and any claim to the pot.
Pot: All the chips contributed so far, taken by the winner.
Showdown: Revealing hands at the end to see who wins.

Setup

Give everyone an equal stack of chips. These are score counters, not money, and nobody adds more during the game. Agree on the blind amounts.
Place the button in front of one player.
The player to the button's left posts the small blind; the next player posts the big blind, usually double.
Deal two cards face down to each player, starting to the button's left.

How to Play

Hands are ranked from best to worst. This is the one table worth memorising:

Hand	What it is	Example
Royal flush	A straight flush up to the ace	A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠
Straight flush	Five in sequence, all one suit	8♦ 7♦ 6♦ 5♦ 4♦
Four of a kind	All four of one rank	9♠ 9♥ 9♦ 9♣ 2♠
Full house	Three of a kind plus a pair	K K K 4 4
Flush	Five of one suit, any order	A♣ J♣ 8♣ 5♣ 3♣
Straight	Five in sequence, mixed suits	9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠
Three of a kind	Three of one rank	7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠
Two pair	Two different pairs	A A 6 6 9
One pair	Two of one rank	Q Q 8 5 3
High card	None of the above	A J 9 6 3

Betting proceeds in four rounds:

Pre-flop. Everyone has their hole cards. Action starts left of the big blind. Each player folds, calls the big blind, or raises.
The flop. Three community cards go face up. Betting starts with the first remaining player left of the button.
The turn. A fourth community card. Another round of betting.
The river. The fifth and final community card, and the last round of betting.

In each round, players act in turn and the round ends when everyone still in has either folded or put in the same amount. If everyone but one player folds at any point, that player takes the pot and does not show their cards.

Scoring & Winning

At showdown, each remaining player makes their best five-card hand using any mix of their two hole cards and the five community cards. You may use both, one, or neither.
Highest hand takes the pot. Identical hands split it.
There is no running score beyond the chips. The game ends when you decide to stop or when one player has them all.

Example

You hold A♠ K♠ and the board comes A♥ 7♠ 2♠ 9♦ K♦. Your best five cards are two pair, aces and kings. An opponent holding two spades would have had a flush, so watch that board.

Variations

Omaha: four hole cards, and you must use exactly two of them plus three from the board.
Seven-Card Stud: no community cards; each player gets their own mix of face-up and face-down cards.
Tournament play: everyone starts with equal chips and the blinds rise over time until one player has everything.

Tips for New Players

Fold most hands before the flop. Beginners lose far more chips by playing too many hands than by playing them badly.
Position matters enormously. Acting last in a betting round means you have seen what everyone else did.
A good hand before the flop is not automatically a good hand after it. Reassess every time a card comes out.
Keep the game friendly. The chips are only counters, so nobody needs to risk money to play.