A round of Texas Hold’em begins with each player being dealt two cards, face down. These are the players ‘hole or pocket cards. The next 4 community cards are dealt face up in 5 separate rounds.

The first three community cards are laid out horizontally on the table, one card at a time in a clockwise fashion starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

The fourth community card is known as ‘the turn’ or 4th street and the fifth and last community card is known as ‘the river’ or 5th street.

A round of betting takes place starting with the player to the left of the big blind and continues clockwise.

After the final betting round is completed, three more cards are dealt face up in a clockwise fashion. These 3 cards are known as ‘the flop’.

Another round of betting takes place beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise.

After the second betting round is completed, another card is dealt face-up in a clockwise fashion. This card is known as ‘the turn’ or 4th street.

Another round of betting takes place beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise.

After the final round of betting, another card is dealt face-up in a clockwise fashion. This last card is known as ‘the river’ or 5th street.

The final round of betting takes place beginning with the player to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise.

After all betting rounds are completed, players reveal their hole cards and make their best five-card hand using any combination of their two pocket cards and the five community cards.

The best hand possible is Royal Flush, followed by Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a kind, Two pairs, and One Pair. Ace can be a high or low card. Pair hands are alike if they have the same type rank of cards irrespective of suit.

The winner of the pot is the player with the best hand and there may be more than one winning hand or no winning hands at all.

Two players can have identical hands, making it a draw.

If two players hold identical hands then the pot is split equally between them.

In most cases, poker etiquette dictates that if you were first to bet and another player was slow playing (i.e. making it seem like they don’t have a good hand), then they owe you half of the pot as an apology for their faux pas.

In the case of a tie, the player closest to their left (i.e. the dealer) wins half of the pot and the other half is awarded to the player furthest from their left.

At times, poker etiquette may dictate that if you were not first to bet but slow-played, then you do not deserve any of the pot.

During a round of poker, there are usually 3 or 4 compulsory bets that must be made by all players:

The Blinds – These are forced bets made by the 2 players to the left of the dealer (i.e. blinds). The Bet – This is a voluntary bet that takes place after the player to the left of the big blind (i.e. small blind) has made their opening bet equal to half of the lower bet on the table.

The Raise – This is a voluntary bet that takes place after the player to the left of the dealer’s bet (i.e. small blind) has made their opening bet equal to half of the lower bet on the table, and a second player has then raised that bet beyond its original size.

The Call – This is a voluntary bet that takes place after a bet and/or raises has been made by another player, and another player wishes to match that bet.