01Numbers instead of screen names
Ignition Poker
Player numbers replace screen names at Ignition. Its Hold’em lobby offers cash tables and tournaments. Check the selected game and stakes before joining.
RULES · BETTING · HANDS
Texas Hold’em gives you two private cards and up to five shared cards. Make the best five-card hand using two, one or none of your own cards, or win when everyone else folds.
Follow the betting, compare hands and see which cards actually count.
Updated
Hold’em cash games and tournaments against other players. Offshore options for eligible adult US players.
Player numbers replace screen names at Ignition. Its Hold’em lobby offers cash tables and tournaments. Check the selected game and stakes before joining.
BetOnline’s poker lobby includes a Play Money setting for learning the controls. Select Hold’em and the practice balance before joining. Practice chips cannot be withdrawn.
Check age and location requirements before opening an account. For fees, tournament choices and account details, compare the online poker rooms.
Standard Hold’em uses 52 cards without jokers. The example uses no limit betting, not Short Deck or a game against the dealer.
The pot is the money or chips in the middle. The small blind and big blind are forced bets that start it. After the deal, players take turns deciding whether to stay in the hand and how much to commit.
One example: $0.10 / $0.25 blinds
Six seats. You have the dealer button, which marks your position in the betting order. Your two private cards stay the same throughout the hand.
YOUR CARDS
01
NO SHARED CARDS YET
$1.60Pot after betting
The three players between the big blind and your button fold. You raise to $0.75. The small blind folds, leaving $0.10 in the pot. The big blind calls another $0.50, making their total $0.75.
The pot is your $0.75 + their $0.75 + the folded small blind’s $0.10. A raise to $0.75 is not an extra $0.75 on top of the big blind.
02
THREE SHARED CARDS
$3.60Pot after betting
You now have a pair of queens. The big blind checks. You bet $1 and they call $1. This round adds $2 to the pot.
Checking does not mean folding. A player who checks can still call, raise or fold if someone bets after them.
03
ONE MORE SHARED CARD
$3.60Pot after betting
The J♥ arrives. The big blind checks and you check behind. No money is added, so the pot stays at $3.60.
Nobody has bet this round. You can stay in without paying more, whether or not the new card helped you.
04
THE FIFTH AND FINAL SHARED CARD
$7.60Pot after betting
The Q♣ gives you three queens. The big blind bets $2 and you call $2. The $4 added to the previous $3.60 makes a $7.60 pot.
There are no more community cards. Once the final betting is complete, the remaining hands are compared at showdown.
YOU SHOW
Q-Q-Q-A-J
THE BIG BLIND SHOWS
Q-Q-Q-K-J
Both hands contain three queens. Your ace beats their king as the next card that matters. That deciding extra card is a kicker. You win the $7.60 pot before any fees.
These bets show the order of play, not a rule for how much to bet. The example excludes antes and rake, the room’s fee. You contributed $3.75, so receiving the $7.60 pot would leave $3.85 profit before fees. A hand ends sooner when everyone but one player folds.
Read from strongest to weakest. These are hand rankings, not a payout table: in Hold’em, a winning pair can take the same pot as a winning royal flush.
A K Q J 10, all the same suit. The highest straight flush.
Five consecutive ranks, all the same suit.
Four cards of the same rank, plus one other card.
Three of one rank and two of another.
Five cards of one suit, not in a consecutive run.
Five consecutive ranks, not all the same suit.
Three cards of one rank, with two unpaired cards.
Two different pairs, plus one other card.
Two cards of one rank, with three unpaired cards.
No pair or better. Compare the highest cards in order.
An ace can be high in A-K-Q-J-10 or low in A-2-3-4-5. It cannot wrap around: Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight. Suits do not break ties.
At showdown, find the best five cards out of the seven available to each player. A sixth card never breaks a tie. These three boards show why the cards in your hand do not always make the difference.
Green edge: the card counts in the best five shown. Gray card: it is not used.
SHARED BOARD
YOUR CARDS
Your best five
A-A-K-9-7
OPPONENT’S CARDS
Their best five
A-A-Q-9-7
You win with the king kicker.
The pairs are equal, so compare the next card. Your king beats the opponent’s queen. The 4 and 2 on the board do not belong in either best five.
SHARED BOARD
YOUR CARDS
Your best five
K-K-9-9-A
OPPONENT’S CARDS
Their best five
K-K-9-9-A
Split pot. Your queen does not beat their jack.
The board provides two pair and each player adds an ace. That already fills all five places. The queen and jack are sixth cards, so neither can decide the hand.
SHARED BOARD
YOUR CARDS
Your best five
A-K-Q-J-10
OPPONENT’S CARDS
Their best five
A-K-Q-J-10
Split pot. Both players use the board.
The shared cards make an ace-high straight. Neither private hand improves it. The opponent’s ace and king look stronger before the flop, but they do not win this showdown.
When the hand categories match, compare the ranks that define them first, then any remaining cards in the best five. With full houses, compare the three matching cards before the pair. With flushes, compare the highest card, then the next, until a difference appears.
Position follows the dealer button, not a permanently good chair. The button moves around the table as hands are played. Acting later lets you see more of the current round before making your decision.
Before the flop: the first active seat after the big blind acts first. The blinds have already put money in. When no one raises, the big blind can check and see the flop without adding more.
On the flop, turn and river: start with the first player still in the hand to the left of the button. The button acts last on the first circuit when still involved. Folded seats are skipped.
In heads-up play, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop. The big blind acts first after the flop. That is different from starting with six players and having four of them fold.
No limit means you can bet or raise up to the chips you have at the table, when the action allows it. It does not remove the minimum bet or minimum raise. You cannot add more money halfway through a hand to cover a bet.
At $0.10 / $0.25 blinds, the ordinary minimum opening bet is $0.25. A full raise must add at least the size of the previous full bet or raise in that round. The example’s first raise adds $0.50, so the next full raise must also add at least $0.50.
Going all in commits your remaining chips. When you cannot match the full bet, you can still contest the part of the pot you have covered. Further betting between players with chips goes into a side pot that you cannot win.
Suppose three players put in $10, $25 and $25 across the whole hand, with nobody else contributing. The player with $10 is all in. Before fees, the $60 total is separated into a $30 main pot and a $30 side pot.
Main pot: $10 from each player. All three can win it.
Side pot: the extra $15 from each of the other two players. Only those two can win it.
The player with the best hand can win the main pot while a different player wins the side pot. An uncalled excess bet is returned rather than won.
A short all-in wager can be smaller than a full raise. It may not reopen raising for someone who has already acted. Check the room’s betting rules rather than assuming every all-in lets you raise again.
Pocket aces are the strongest starting hand, but no two cards promise a win. Before deciding what to do, look at your position, the betting so far and the chips still available to you and your opponents.
A pair such as 9♣ 9♦ starts ahead of unpaired cards in the hand rankings. Its value changes when higher cards arrive or the betting gets heavy. Medium pairs are not automatic folds simply because you act early.
A-K and A-Q can make strong pairs. A weaker ace can make the same pair as another player and lose to a better kicker, as the showdown examples show. Holding an ace is not a reason to call every raise.
9♥ 8♥ is suited and connected: the cards share a suit and their ranks touch. They can work together toward straights and flushes. They still need help, and two cards of one suit are not a flush draw by themselves.
The same cards can call for a different decision. Opening the betting after everyone folds is not the same as facing a raise and another raise. A useful starting-hand chart must specify the number of seats, position, prior action and stack depth. It is not one list to follow in every game.
A call has a price. Compare that price with your chance of winning a share of the pot, not just with how much you would like the next card to help.
There is $100 in the middle. Your opponent bets $50, making the pot $150. Calling costs you $50 and makes the final pot $200.
With no later bets, ties or fees, winning 25% of the time breaks even on this call. You need more than 25% for a positive average result. Money committed earlier is already in the pot; the decision now concerns the extra $50.
An out is an unseen card that completes the draw you are counting. With four cards of one suit visible between your hand and the board, nine of that suit remain unseen. Whether those nine cards also win the pot depends on the opponent’s hand.
| Draw | Flop → river Two cards |
Turn → river One card |
|---|---|---|
| Flush draw9 outs | 35.0% | 19.6% |
| Straight draw: either end8 outs | 31.5% | 17.4% |
| Gutshot: one missing rank4 outs | 16.5% | 8.7% |
An open straight draw such as 5-6-7-8 can be completed by a 4 or a 9. A gutshot such as 5-6-8-9 needs a 7. The figures assume only your two cards and the board are known.
On the turn: a nine-out flush draw hits about 19.6% of the time. If those are your only winning cards and nobody will bet again, that is below the 25% price in the example.
On the flop: the 35.0% figure includes both the turn and river. Calling a flop bet does not necessarily buy both cards. Another bet on the turn can make continuing more expensive.
On the flop, your two cards and three shared cards leave 47 unseen cards. With nine outs, the chance of missing on both remaining cards is (38 ÷ 47) × (37 ÷ 46). Subtract that from 1 to get about 35.0%.
After a blank turn, 46 cards remain unseen, so nine outs give 9 ÷ 46, or about 19.6%. The same calculation gives the eight-out and four-out rows. These are draw-completion chances, not automatic winning chances.
Hold’em is the game. Cash games and tournaments are ways to play it. The card rules stay familiar, but the chips and schedule work differently.
Your table chips represent money. A $0.10 / $0.25 table uses those blinds from hand to hand. You can leave between hands and return your remaining table balance to the account. The room usually takes a fee from qualifying pots.
A $25 stack at $0.25 big blinds is 100 big blinds. That describes the stack size, not how much you should spend.
You pay an entry and receive tournament chips. Blinds increase on a published schedule. Prizes depend on the event’s rules and results; you cannot cash out the chips in front of you simply by leaving.
A hypothetical $20 + $2 entry costs $22: $20 toward the prize pool and $2 in fees. A stack of 10,000 chips is not $10,000.
Select Play Money where available and learn the difference between the call amount and the total raise. BetOnline documents a practice balance in its poker lobby. Use it to get comfortable with the buttons; a practice win does not tell you what a cash session will earn.
On a phone, check the amount displayed beside the action before tapping. Avoid preset actions until you understand when they apply. Read the room’s disconnect rules before joining a game you cannot pause.
In a poker room, your wagers go into pots contested by the other players. Casino Hold’em and Ultimate Texas Hold’em are different games against the house, with their own bets, dealer rules and payout tables. A human dealer on a live video does not change that distinction.
Video poker is different again: you choose cards to keep and draw replacements against a fixed paytable. Its payouts do not tell you who wins a Hold’em pot.
No. At showdown, use the best five cards from your two private cards and the five shared cards. You can use two, one or neither private card. The other cards do not break a tie.
Yes, when nobody has raised. The big blind has already matched the opening wager and can check. After a raise, checking is no longer an option. The big blind can call the extra amount, raise when permitted or fold.
Yes. A-2-3-4-5 is a five-high straight. An ace is also high in 10-J-Q-K-A, but it cannot sit in the middle of a run such as Q-K-A-2-3.
A kicker matters when it is part of the best five and the main matching cards are tied. Two players with the same pair may be separated by their next highest card. A sixth card never decides the pot.
When their best five-card hands are equal in rank, they split the pot they are both eligible to win. Suits do not rank above one another. A room’s odd-chip rule decides any smallest chip that cannot be divided.
You can call all in with your remaining table chips. You are eligible for the part of the pot you have covered. Additional betting between the other players goes into a side pot that you cannot win.
Conventional Hold’em in a poker room is played against other players. Casino Hold’em and Ultimate Texas Hold’em are separate games against the house. They can have a live human dealer and still use house-game rules.
You can practice with a deck of cards or use a room’s Play Money mode where available. BetOnline documents a Play Money setting for its poker lobby. Practice chips cannot be withdrawn or exchanged for cash; check the selected balance before joining.
Start by following the action and naming the best five cards. Then add position and the price of a call. There is no need to learn every bluff or memorize a starting-hand chart before you can understand a hand.
When you are ready to compare stakes, fees and formats, choose an online poker room. For other kinds of play, browse the casino games guide.