The small blind is the player to the left of the dealer button and the big blind is to the left of the small blind. Two cards are dealt to all players, these are your hole cards, and the action starts to the left of the big blind and goes clockwise in what is described as preflop action. Since the blinds must put money in the pot before seeing their cards, the blinds are last to act preflop. In all subsequent rounds of betting, the action starts with the first player to the left of the dealer button.

Preflop

The first player to the left of the dealer button has the option of folding, calling the big blind or raising. In $1/$2 it would be $1 to call. In no limit a player may raise any or all of their chips so a raise would have to make it at least $2 up to their entire stack of chips. All of the players act in turn deciding whether to fold, call or raise. The chips the small and big blind posted to start the hand count towards their share of the pot so if the bet was $5 to the small blind they could call for just $4.50 and the big blind could call for $4 because they already have money in the pot.

The Flop

After the bets are called, 3 cards are dealt face up in the center which is called the flop. These are community cards shared by all players. Once the flop is dealt, there is a round of betting. There will be two additional community cards, the turn and the river, each with an additional round of betting. You may use between three and five of the community cards to make your best hand. The action starts with the first player left of the button still in the hand. They have the option to bet or check and action moves around the table clockwise. If there is a bet, other players have the option of folding, calling or raising until the last bet is called.

The Turn and River

A fourth card is then dealt up in the center, called the turn, and the action once again to the left of the dealer button and is identical to the flop action. After all of the action on the turn is completed one more card is dealt in the center called the river. The left of the button starts the action again and once everyone has had a chance to bet the last bettor shows their hand first. Actions moves around the table clockwise and players have the option to show or muck their hand. The best five card hand, which may include zero, one or both of your two hole cards, wins based on the following:

hand rankings:

• Royal Flush – Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit
• Straight Flush – 5 suited cards in a row such as 5 diamonds (4,5,6,7,8)
• Four of a Kind – Four of the same value card such as (5,5,5,5)
• Full House – Three of a kind and a pair (9,9,9,8,8)
• Flush – Five of the same suit not making a straight
• Straight – 5 cards in a row that are not all the same suit
• Three of a Kind – Three of the same value card (5,5,5)
• Two Pair – Two different pairs (Ace, Ace, King, King)
• Pair – Any single pair (Ace, Ace)
• High Card – A hand that does not qualify as any of the above hands. The highest ranking hand is determined by the highest card. If these tie then the second highest card is used on down to the last card if needed. A,K,J,6,2 would beat A,K,J,5,4 because the first three cards tie but the 6 is higher than a 5.

If at any point during a hand one player bets and the other players fold the hand is immediately over and the bettor wins the pot. Once the winner is determined the button moves to the left and the blinds move to the left. The player to the left of the big blind is now big blind, the big blind last hand is small blind and the small blind the hand before is the button.