No-limit Texas Hold’em: two cards of your own, five shared in the middle, and the best five-card hand wins the pot — or the last player left when everyone else folds. You play the other players, not the house — it only takes a rake, 5% of a pot that sees a flop, a few dollars at most. Bet any amount, up to every chip in front of you.
Free, no sign-up — play the house’s regulars or invite a friend.
The blinds
The two players left of the dealer button put in the small blind and big blind before the cards — so every pot is worth playing for: $1/$2 at the Corner Table, $2/$5 at the Main Room, $5/$10 at the Back Room. The button moves one seat left every hand, so everyone pays their share.
The four streets
Everyone gets two cards face down, and there’s a round of betting (preflop). Then three shared cards — the flop — and another round; one more — the turn — and another; one last — the river — and a final round. Anyone still in shows down, and the best five cards from their two and the board win.
Your choices
On your turn: Fold on the left, Check or Call in the middle, Bet or Raise on the right — always in those places. Check when there’s nothing to call; call to match the bet; raise to make it bigger. Raise opens the sizer: a slider, and the usual sizes — ½ pot, ¾ pot, pot, all in. A raise must be at least as big as the last one.
What beats what
Straight flush — 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 5♠ — the ace-high one is a royal flush
Four of a kind — Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠ 4♦
Full house — J♣ J♦ J♥ 3♠ 3♦ — three of one, two of another
Flush — A♥ J♥ 8♥ 4♥ 2♥ — five of one suit
Straight — 10♦ 9♣ 8♠ 7♥ 6♦ — five in a row
Three of a kind — 7♣ 7♦ 7♠ K♥ 2♣
Two pair — A♠ A♦ 9♣ 9♥ 5♠
Pair — K♠ K♥ 10♦ 6♣ 3♥
High card — A♦ Q♣ 9♠ 5♥ 3♦ — nothing, best card plays
The odds
Turn on Odds in Settings and you’ll see, by your cards: Win — how often your hand wins against the players still in; Outs — the cards that would improve it; and, when there’s a bet to call, Need — the share of the time you must win for calling to pay. Win above Need, and the call pays over time.
Tournaments
A Sit & Go: Five players, one winner. Blinds up every 8 hands. Everyone pays the same entry ($22) and starts with 1,500 tournament chips. The blinds start at 10/20 and keep going up, so nobody can sit and wait. Lose your chips and you’re out. The prizes go to the top 2: 70% and 30% of the pool.
Bounties
In the Bounty Hunter, $10 of every $33 entry is a bounty on that player’s head. Knock someone out and their bounty is yours, on the spot — on top of whatever you finish in.
Gestures
On your turn, flick up toward the middle of the table to fold — or to check, when there’s nothing to call. The buttons still work. Turn gestures off in Settings.
Tips
Need shows the share of the time you must win for a call to pay.
In a tournament the blinds keep going up — don’t wait too long for a hand.
Your host comps poker by the hour, as a cardroom does: $1.50 for every hour you’re dealt in. Twenty dollars of it is a free seat in a Sit & Go — its prizes are real money.
Acting last is worth more than a good card: you see what everyone else does first.