Poker Rules for Tournaments
The rules of Texas Hold’em, written for tournament play. Every drill on this site assumes a tournament, so three things shape the decisions: the blinds keep rising, busting ends your day, and prizes depend on where you finish.
You make the best five-card hand from your own two cards plus five shared ones. Cards are never re-dealt, and there are four rounds of betting along the way.
This order comes from running real five-card hands through the same evaluator used for grading. The table is not written by hand, so it cannot drift from the implementation.
| Hand | Example | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠ | Five in a row, all one suit. Nothing beats it. |
| Straight flush | 9♥8♥7♥6♥5♥ | The same hand as above; the higher top card wins. |
| Four of a kind | 7♣7♦7♥7♠2♣ | Four cards of the same rank. |
| Full house | K♣K♦K♥4♠4♣ | Three of one rank plus two of another. |
| Flush | A♣10♣8♣5♣2♣ | Five of one suit. They need not be in sequence. |
| Straight | Q♦J♣10♥9♠8♦ | Five in a row. Suits do not matter. |
| Three of a kind | 5♣5♦5♥K♦2♠ | Three cards of the same rank. |
| Two pair | A♣A♦9♥9♠3♣ | Two separate pairs. |
| One pair | J♣J♦8♥5♠2♣ | Two cards of the same rank. |
| High card | A♣J♦9♥7♠4♣ | None of the above. The highest card decides. |
Two hands of the same type are separated by the ranks they use. If those match too, the pot is split.
Preflop
Everyone is dealt two cards face down. Those two are yours alone.
The small blind and big blind have already put chips in before seeing anything.
Starting under the gun, each player folds, calls or raises.
Flop
Three shared cards are turned over at once. Everyone may use them.
Starting with the small blind, each player checks or bets.
Turn
A fourth shared card is added, and another round of betting follows.
River
The fifth and last shared card comes out, followed by a final round of betting.
Anyone still in shows their cards, and the best five from their two plus the five on the board wins.
| Fold | Give up the hand. Chips already in the pot stay there. |
| Check | Pass without betting. Only possible if nobody has bet. |
| Call | Match what they bet and stay in the hand. |
| Bet | Be the first to put chips in on this street. |
| Raise | Put in more than their bet. |
| All-in | Commit every chip you have. |
The later your seat, the more you have seen before deciding, which is a real edge. At the table, the seat with the white “D” button is the button.
| UTG | first to act |
| UTG+1 | second to act |
| MP | middle position |
| MP+1 | late middle position |
| HJ | hijack |
| CO | cutoff |
| BTN | button, last to act |
| SB | small blind |
| BB | big blind |
Six-handed drops UTG+1, MP+1 and HJ, leaving UTG / MP / CO / BTN / SB / BB.
Blinds keep rising
The blinds go up on a timer. Doing nothing means your stack shrinks on its own.
Waiting for a good hand is not a plan. Count your stack in big blinds and think from there.
Out of chips means out
Unlike a cash game, you cannot rebuy. Bust and your tournament is over.
So there are spots that win chips and are still not worth taking.
Prizes depend on where you finish
Only the top finishers are paid, and first place takes much more than the places below it.
Doubling your chips does not double your prize. ICM is that difference, put into numbers.
Antes
On top of the blinds, everyone pays into every pot. In most tournaments the big blind posts it for the table.
The pot starts larger, so it is worth more to contest.