These are the basic rules for Texas Hold'Em Poker.

The dealer shuffles a standard 52-card deck.

(In casinos, the dealer never plays. A round disc 2" in diameter known as a "dealer button" moves clockwise from player to player with each hand. The button marks which player would be the dealer if the deal were advanced from player to player as the game went along.)

Most Texas Hold'Em Poker games start with the two players to the left of the dealer (the button) putting a predetermined amount of money into the pot before any cards are dealt, ensuring that there's something to play for on every hand.

This is called "posting the blinds." The "small blind" - the player to the left of the dealer - puts up half the minimum bet, and the "big blind" - the player to the left of the "small bling" puts up the full minimum bet.
Each player is dealt two cards, starting from the person to the left of the dealer, face down. These are known as the "hole cards."

Betting Begins

A round of betting takes place, beginning with the player to the left of the two who posted the blinds. Players can call, raise, or fold when it's their turn to bet.

The Flop

After the first betting round, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called burning the card and is done to ensure that no one accidentally saw the top card, and to help prevent cheating with marked cards.

The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table. These cards are called the "flop."

NOTE: Eventually, a total of five community cards will be placed face up on the table. Players can use any combination of the community cards and their own two hole cards to form the best possible five-card Poker hand.

After the flop, another round of betting takes place, beginning with the player to the left of the dealer (the button). During this and all future rounds of betting, players can check, call, raise, or fold when it's their turn to bet.

Fourth Street

The dealer burns another card then flips one more face up onto the table. This, the fourth community card, is called the "turn" or "Fourth Street."

The player to the left of the dealer (the button) begins the third round of betting.

Fifth Street

The dealer burns another card before placing the final face-up card on the table. This card is called the "river" or "Fifth Street."

Final Betting and The Winner

Players can now use any combination of seven cards - the five community cards and the two hole cards known only to them -- to form the best possible five-card Poker hand.

The fourth and final round of betting starts with the player to the left of the dealer (the button).

After the final betting round, all players who remain in the game reveal their hands. The player who made the initial bet or the player who made the last raise shows their hand first.

The player with the best hand wins.

As a result of the rigidly defined betting structure, it is difficult, though not quite impossible, for one pot to define an entire day's play. Pots tend to stay within a certain range in size, unless multiple players engage in a hand with multiple raises for several rounds, a situation that occurs only rarely.

Pot Limit Poker
Pot-Limit Poker is the kind played more in Europe, and as a tournament game in America. In a pot-limit game, the blinds or antes determine the size of the betting, and at any point, the next player to act can bet any amount up to the size of the pot. For example, in a pot-limit Texas Hold'em game with blinds of $5 and $10, the next player to act can either call for $10 or raise by placing any amount from $20 up to $35 in the pot.

The $20 minimum for a raise stems from the fact that a raise must be at least the size of the prior bet. So the minimum raise in this situation is the $10 blind plus another $10. The $35 figure comes from the player calling the big blind's $10 bet, which puts a total of $25 in the pot, and then raising the size of the pot (10 + 25 = 35).

Assuming this player did indeed make a pot-sized raise, the next player to act could either call the $35, or raise by betting any amount from $70 up through $105. The $105 figure comes from calling the $35 bet, which puts a total of $70 in the pot, and then raising the full size of the pot (35 + 70 = 105). As you can see, a re-raise by yet another player, or by one of the earlier players, could make a pot that started with two relatively small blinds quite huge indeed. The next maximum wager would be $420 (calling the $140 in the pot, and raising the full $280 pot size), creating a pot of $560. The opportunity for continued growth on later rounds means this pot could easily wind up with several thousand dollars in it, something that could never happen in a limit game with $5 and $10 blinds.

No Limit Poker
No-Limit Poker is more closely related to pot-limit than it is to limit, and so it too is a popular game in Europe that is played primarily in tournaments in America. The betting structure is simple, because there is almost no structure: the blinds or antes start off the hand, and at any point, any player may raise any amount, up to and including the full stack of chips in front of him (which is called "moving all-in").

As with both limit and pot-limit, if a player bets more than another player has in front of him, he cannot force the other player out of the hand; the player with fewer chips is allowed to call whatever portion of the bet he can. For example, if in a no-limit Texas Hold'em game with blinds of $10 and $20, a player raises $700, another player in the game who only has $200 in front of him can say "I call," and if no other player enters the pot, the initial bettor would take back $500 of his bet, and the cards would be dealt to conclusion with no further betting, because players are not allowed to buy additional chips (or, in a real world game, take additional cash out of their wallet) in the middle of a hand in any form of poker.

Side Pots
If a third player wished to engage, he could call the full $700, or raise even more. If he called the $700, the "main pot" for which all three players are eligible to win, would contain $600 (because each contributed $200), and a "side pot" of $1,000. The two players remaining in the hand are allowed to bet at each other, to the extent they have chips remaining, on the future betting rounds. These bets apply only to the side pot, and if one side-pot player folds, the other takes the side pot immediately, regardless of whether or not his hand is superior to the all-in player's hand: that hand is contesting only the $600 main pot.

This explanation of side pots applies equally to limit and pot-limit games. In large, multi-way pots where several combatants have short stacks, it is not uncommon for more than one side pot to be created.

Kill Games
Kill games provide an opportunity for the occasional larger size stake game without the need to play at the higher stake throughout a session. In a kill game, anytime a player scoops an entire pot (usually it must be larger than a given minimum size), he is given a "kill" button. If that player then scoops a second consecutive pot, the next hand dealt will be a "kill" hand.

In a full kill game, the stakes double during a kill hand (for example, a 10-20 game becomes a 20-40 game). In a game employing a half-kill (a fairly common variation), the stakes increase by 50% for the kill hand (so a 10-20 game would become a 15-30 game).

The player who has scooped the two consecutive pots is forced to place an amount equal to the size of the game's big blind on the kill button (or into the pot, in an Internet card room, as there is no physical kill button to stack chips upon). The "hot" player is thus put at a slight disadvantage during the increased-stake hand, because he has to put this money at risk before he sees his cards. Just as the big blind gets an option to raise even though no one else has raised, so too does the player with the kill button blind money get a chance to raise the pot.

If the player with the kill button scoops the pot again, the next hand is again a kill pot and that player must again post a blind bet. The stakes do not re-double. As soon as someone other than the "scooper" wins a hand, the game returns to the normal stake.

Split Pots
If two or more players finish a hand with exactly the same value hand, they divide the money in the pot equally. Suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) do not matter in ranking hands for this purpose.