Texas Hold’em

How to run it

Chips only, never money. Agree the blinds before the first hand.

Nobody swaps anything. You keep your two cards, five more come out in the middle, and you make the best five out of those seven.

The hand

1. Two cards each, face down. Small and big blind go in.
2. Betting. Then three cards face up on the table — the flop.
3. Betting. A fourth card — the turn. Betting. A fifth — the river. Betting.
4. Best five from your two and the five on the table takes the pot.

On your go

• Fold, check, call or raise.
• Dealer button moves left every hand, and the blinds move with it.

The words

• The pot — the chips in the middle. That is what you are playing for.
• Blinds — two forced bets from the two men left of the dealer, so every hand starts with something in the pot.
• Flop, turn, river — the first three shared cards, then the fourth, then the fifth.
• Check — bet nothing, stay in. Only if nobody has bet yet this round.
• Call — match the bet. Raise — put in more. Fold — throw it in and lose whatever you already put in.
• All in — the lot. You can only win as much as the others matched.
• Kicker — when two men have the same pair, the next card down decides it.

HANDS, BEST TO WORST

• Straight flush — five in a row, all one suit. 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠. Ten to ace is a royal flush, the top one of these, and no hand beats it.
• Four of a kind — all four of a number. 9♣ 9♦ 9♥ 9♠ and anything
• Full house — three of one number and two of another. K K K 4 4
• Flush — any five of one suit, in no order. 2♥ 7♥ 9♥ J♥ A♥
• Straight — five in a row, suits do not matter. 4 5 6 7 8
• Three of a kind — three the same. 7 7 7 and two others
• Two pair — two of one, two of another. J J 3 3 and one other
• Pair — two the same. Q Q and three others
• High card — none of the above, so your biggest card plays.

Only one hand counts

You are not stacking them. Five cards, the best single hand you can make out of your seven.

• A pair and a flush is just a flush, because the flush is the better five.
• Two men on the same hand? The higher cards in it win — two aces beats two kings — and if those are level, the kicker.
• Two runs, straight or straight flush? The top card of the run takes it. Two flushes? Highest card down until one is bigger.
• Dead level the whole way, which happens when the best five are all on the table? Split the pot.
• Ace is high, and also low in a straight: A 2 3 4 5 counts.

What you need

• A deck of cards
• Counters — Chips, coins, matches, buttons — anything countable

Add this to your event

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