In Texas Hold ’em a dealer "button" is followed by two mandatory bets known as the small blind and big blind. The "button" and blinds rotate around the table after each hand.

The Deal

Once the blinds have been posted, each player is dealt one card at a time, beginning with the player directly clockwise of the dealer button. This process continues until each player at the table has exactly two cards--known as the player's "hole cards".

Preflop

When all players have two cards, the preflop betting round begins. The player clockwise of the big blind begins the round with the option to call (also known as “limping”, or matching the amount of the big blind), raise (bet at least 2x the amount of the big blind), or fold, “mucking” their hand by pushing their cards into the middle.

The pile of mucked cards stays in the middle of the table throughout each hand, preferably under the hand in which the dealer is holding the deck (known as the “stub”). Any chips that are bet also go to the middle of the table, in the center/left or center/right of the table, depending on which hand the dealer is holding the deck with. The chips are always placed opposite of the muck pile.

Each player at the table gets the option to call, raise or fold, and in the preflop round the player on the big blind is the last to act (or the straddle). If one or more players in front of (before) the big blind raises, the big blind must match the amount of that raise, or fold their hand.

The big blind can check if there are only calls in front, putting no more money into the pot and proceeding to the next betting round. The big blind wins the pot automatically if every other player in front of them folds.

Once every player has either matched the amount of the biggest raise, or folded, all players still in the hand advance to the next betting round, known as the “flop”.

The Flop

To deal the flop, the dealer “burns” the top card on the deck and puts it face down on the table, out of play. The top three cards on the remaining deck are then placed face up in the middle of the table. The players that advanced to the flop then commence another betting round.

On the table, the flop should be arranged like this:

On the flop and all subsequent betting rounds, the small blind is the first to act with the choice of call/raise/fold. If the small blind folded preflop, the next active player clockwise to the small blind starts the betting round.

The player on the dealer button is always last to act in each of the final three betting rounds, unless that player raises, and in that case the other players still in the hand have the option to call the raise, or re-raise.

All chips bet in this round continue to accumulate in the middle of the table, and when the highest raise has been matched, or all players fold to a raise, the next betting round begins.

The Turn and River

After the flop betting round is closed, the dealer burns another card, then puts the next card face up, directly to the right of the flop. This card is known as the “turn” (or Fourth Street), and the betting process from the flop then repeats itself after this card is dealt.

The final betting round takes place after this, as the dealer burns another card and deals the “river” (or Fifth Street), placing another card face up to the right of the turn card. Let’s take a look at a dealer going through the whole process of dealing all four rounds (preflop, flop, turn and river):

After the river betting round is complete, players show their cards (called the showdown) and the dealer announces the winner, based on poker hand rankings.

This is how the flop, turn and river are arranged on the board:

The player who was last to bet or raise in the river betting round traditionally is the first to show their cards, and the showdown proceeds clockwise after that.

Players showing down after the first player have the option to muck without showing their hands and are immediately ineligible to win the pot. If everyone checks in the final betting round, the player clockwise of the dealer button has to showdown first.

The dealer announces the winning hand, leaving the board cards and the winning hand face up while pushing the pot to the winner. When you’re dealing Texas Hold ’em, it’s important to take your time with this step and make sure it’s completely clear who won the hand, and what their final hand strength is.

After the winner rakes in the pot, the cards are shuffled, the blinds and dealer button move one spot clockwise, and we start a new hand!