Hold'em Rules

How a hand plays

1. The button marks the dealer position. It moves one seat clockwise after every hand.
2. The two players to the left of the button post the small blind and the big blind. Heads-up, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop.
3. Everyone is dealt two cards face down. These are your hole cards.
4. Preflop betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind.
5. The flop: three cards are dealt face up in the middle. A betting round follows.
6. The turn: a fourth card is dealt face up. Another betting round follows.
7. The river: a fifth and final card is dealt face up. The last betting round follows.
8. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, the best five-card hand wins the pot.

Winning

Your hand is the best five cards from your two hole cards and the five board cards. You can use both of your cards, one of them, or none and play the board.

If everyone else folds, you win the pot without showing your cards.

• Hands rank from royal flush down to high card (see Hand rankings below).
• Suits never break a tie. Equal hands split the pot.

Betting

• On every street you can check (if nobody has bet), bet, call, raise or fold.
• The smallest bet is one big blind.
• A raise must be at least the size of the biggest bet or raise so far in that round. If your whole stack is less than that, your only raise is all-in.
• The most you can bet is your whole stack.
• After the flop, betting starts with the first player still in to the left of the button.

Good to know

• All-in: you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in. Extra bets go into a side pot that only the players who matched them can win.
• Chips that nobody can call are returned to you when the betting round ends.
• Capped tables: the cap is shown next to the game name, for example Cap 40BB. Once you have put that much into the pot in a hand, you are all-in for that hand. The rest of your stack stays yours and plays again from the next hand.
• Some tables also use an ante. When they do, it is shown on the table.
• In cash games, a new player can post a big blind to be dealt in straight away, or wait for the big blind to reach them. If you come back after missing the big blind, you can post the big blind plus a dead small blind, or wait for the big blind.

How a hand plays

1. The two players to the left of the button post the small blind and the big blind. Heads-up, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop.
2. Everyone is dealt two cards face down.
3. Preflop betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind.
4. The flop (three cards), the turn (one card) and the river (one card) are dealt face up, with a betting round after each.
5. Showdown: the best five-card hand wins the pot.

Winning

Exactly as in No-Limit Hold'em: the best five cards from your two hole cards and the five board cards. Equal hands split the pot.

Betting

• Every bet and raise is a set size. You never choose an amount.
• Preflop and on the flop, bets and raises are the small bet. On the turn and river they are the big bet.
• The big blind is one small bet. The small blind is usually half of that.
• Each betting round allows a bet and up to four raises. Before the flop, the big blind counts as the bet.
• In cash games, if only two players are in the hand when a betting round starts, there is no limit on raises in that round.

Good to know

• Short all-ins: if a player goes all-in for at least half a bet to open the betting, it counts as a full bet. The next player can call it or raise a full bet on top. If it is less than half a bet, the most the next player can raise to is one full bet.
• All-in and side pots work as in every other game: you can only win from each opponent as much as you put in.

How a hand plays

1. The deck has 36 cards: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K and A in each suit.
2. The two players to the left of the button post the small blind and the big blind. Heads-up, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop.
3. Everyone is dealt two cards face down. Preflop betting starts left of the big blind.
4. The flop (three cards), the turn (one card) and the river (one card) are dealt face up, with a betting round after each.
5. Showdown: the best five-card hand wins the pot.

Winning

Use any five of your seven cards, just like regular Hold'em. The hand rankings change because the small cards are gone.

• A flush beats a full house.
• A straight still beats three of a kind.
• The ace plays low in one straight only: A-6-7-8-9, the lowest straight.
• Order, strongest first: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, flush, full house, straight, three of a kind, two pair, pair, high card.

Betting

No limit, exactly as in No-Limit Hold'em: the smallest bet is one big blind, a raise is at least the biggest bet or raise so far in the round, and you can bet your whole stack at any time unless the table shows a cap.

How a hand plays

1. Every hand at a bomb pot table is a bomb pot.
2. Every player dealt in posts the same ante. There are no blinds.
3. Everyone is dealt two cards face down. There is no betting before the flop.
4. The flop is dealt and the first betting round begins with the first player still in to the left of the button.
5. The turn and the river follow, with a betting round after each.
6. Showdown: the best five-card hand wins the pot.

Double board

In the No Limit Holdem Double Board Bomb Pot, two separate boards are dealt. Each street adds cards to both boards, and there is one betting round per street, not one per board.

• At showdown the pot is split in half. Each half goes to the best hand on its board.
• You make a separate hand on each board: the best five cards from your two hole cards and that board, never mixing the two boards.
• Win both boards and you take the whole pot. If hands tie on a board, they split that board's half.
• If a pot cannot be split exactly, the extra smallest unit goes to the first board.

Winning

Hands are made and ranked as in No-Limit Hold'em: the best five cards from your two hole cards and the board.

Betting

No limit, from the flop on. The stakes of a bomb pot table are shown as its ante.

Good to know

• Omaha bomb pots (PLO, PLO5 and PLO6, on one board or two) work the same way and are explained on the Omaha rules page.