How To Play Texas Hold'em - Heads Up
Heads-up, no-limit — just you against the house AI.
The goal
Make the best five-card poker hand from your two hole cards and the five shared community cards — or bet well enough that your opponent folds. Win chips; the match ends when someone runs out.
How a hand plays
Each hand has four betting rounds, with community cards revealed as you go:
- Pre-flop — you each get two hidden cards, then bet.
- Flop — three community cards are dealt; bet again.
- Turn — a fourth community card; bet.
- River — the fifth and last community card; final bet.
If both players are still in after the river, it's a showdown — cards are turned up and the best hand wins the pot.
Blinds & the button
To start the betting there are two forced bets, the small and big blind. The dealer button (the little D) marks who's the dealer. Heads-up, the dealer posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, but acts last on every round after it. The button switches each hand.
Your options
- Fold — give up the hand (and any chips you've bet).
- Check — stay in for free, when there's no bet to match.
- Call — match your opponent's bet.
- Bet / Raise — put in more. It's no-limit, so you can wager anything from the minimum up to all-in. The raise panel has a slider and Min / ½ Pot / Pot / All-in shortcuts.
Hand rankings (high to low)
| Straight Flush | five in a row, one suit |
| Four of a Kind | four of one rank |
| Full House | three of a kind + a pair |
| Flush | five of one suit |
| Straight | five in a row, any suits |
| Three of a Kind | three of one rank |
| Two Pair | two pairs |
| Pair | two of one rank |
| High Card | none of the above |
Good to know
- Your opponent's cards stay hidden until a showdown — a player who wins by making everyone fold never has to show.
- You can pick the opponent's strength — Easy, Medium (default), or Hard — in the gear.
Tip: position is power. When you act last in a round you've
seen what your opponent does first, so play a few more hands from the button and be
choosier when you're first to act. And you don't have to play every hand —
folding weak cards cheaply is how you save chips for the strong ones.
