Resources
Sharpen Your Poker Skills
At Texas Poker Culture, we’re here to share our love for the game with you. We believe every player should have a solid foundation, and that’s why we’ve put together these free resources to help you learn the fundamentals. From hand rankings to the flow of the game, we want you to feel confident and excited as you dive into poker. Use this page to start building your skills!
Follow our poker equity challenge channel.
Poker equity is the % of times your hand wins. Daily challenges sharpen your instincts. Learn the numbers, play smart.
How To Play
Each player is dealt two Hole cards. Only you can play your own cards.
There are 5 community cards on the table that everyone can use to make their hand. Each player combines these shared cards with their own 2 cards to create the best 5-card hand possible.
Dealer Button
Deal cards starting to the left of the dealer button. Blinds are forced bets that must be placed. Dealer button moves one position left after each hand.
Four Betting Rounds
You have the opportunity to place a bet at four different stages of the game: before any community cards are dealt (pre-flop), after the first three cards are revealed (the flop), after the fourth card is shown (the turn), and after the final card is revealed (the river).
Showdown
The player with the best 5-card tabled hand wins the pot.
Match - the bet amount
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the last wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
Each player is dealt three Hole cards. Only you can play your own cards.
Discard
You will discard 1 card.
*Important* If a player fails to discard properly their hand will be ruled dead.
Pineapple - Discard after the pre-flop betting is complete
Crazy Pineapple - Discard after the flop betting is complete
There are 5 community cards on the table that everyone can use to make their hand. Each player combines these shared cards with their own 2 cards to create the best 5-card hand possible.
Dealer Button
Deal cards starting to the left of the dealer button. Blinds are forced bets that must be placed. Dealer button moves one position left after each hand.
Four Betting Rounds
You have the opportunity to place a bet at four different stages of the game: before any community cards are dealt (pre-flop), after the first three cards are revealed (the flop), after the fourth card is shown (the turn), and after the final card is revealed (the river).
Showdown
The player with the best 5-card tabled hand wins the pot.
Match - the bet amount
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the last wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
Each player is dealt 4 cards.
You MUST play 2 cards from your hand.
Everyone can use the 5 community cards on the table. You MUST include 3 of these shared cards along with 2 cards from your hand to create your best 5-card hand.
This is a key rule!
For example, if you have the Ace of Hearts in your hand but no other Hearts, and there are 4 Hearts on the board, you do not have a flush. A flush requires at least 2 Hearts in your hand to complete the hand with the board cards.
Dealer Button
Deal cards starting to the left of the dealer button. Blinds are forced bets that must be placed. Dealer button moves one position left after each hand.
Four Betting Rounds
You have the opportunity to place a bet at four different stages of the game: before any community cards are dealt (pre-flop), after the first three cards are revealed (the flop), after the fourth card is shown (the turn), and after the final card is revealed (the river).
Omaha is often played as a Pot Limit game, commonly called Pot Limit Omaha (PLO). Players can make a special type of bet called a "Pot" bet in this format. This means the player is betting the total amount currently in the pot, including all previous bets.
Here's an example:
-
On the flop, the pot has $10.
-
Player A bets $5, and Player B calls that $5.
-
Now, Player C decides to "pot it."
-
The calculation for this bet is three times the last bet ($5 x 3) plus the previous bets ($5 + $10 from the pot). The total bet is $30.
-
Showdown
The player with the best 5-card tabled hand wins the pot.
Match - the bet amount
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the last wager
Pot - Increase the last wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
-
Each player is dealt 5 cards.
You MUST play 2 cards from your hand.
Everyone can use the 5 community cards on the table. You MUST include 3 of these shared cards along with 2 cards from your hand.
The pot is split into two parts:
-
The High Hand: This is the best 5-card hand revealed at the showdown.
-
The Low Hand: This is the lowest 5-card hand revealed at the showdown. A low hand consists of 5 unique (non-pairing) cards, 8 or lower. The best possible Low hand is called the "nut low," which is a Wheel: A-2-3-4-5. Suits do not matter for Low hands.
For example: 8,4,3,2,A vs. 6,4,3,2,A. The 6,4 wins because 64 is lower than 84)
Dealer Button
Deal cards starting to the left of the dealer button. Blinds are forced bets that must be placed. Dealer button moves one position left after each hand.
Four Betting Rounds
You have the opportunity to place a bet at four different stages of the game: before any community cards are dealt (pre-flop), after the first three cards are revealed (the flop), after the fourth card is shown (the turn), and after the final card is revealed (the river).
Big-O/Congress is often played as a Pot Limit game. Players can make a special type of bet called a "Pot" bet in this format. This means the player is betting the total amount currently in the pot, including all previous bets.
Here's an example:
-
On the flop, the pot has $10.
-
Player A bets $5, and Player B calls that $5.
-
Now, Player C decides to "pot it."
-
The calculation for this bet is three times the last bet ($5 x 3) plus the previous bets ($5 + $10 from the pot). The total bet is $30.
-
Showdown
The player with the best 5-card tabled hand wins the pot.
Match - the bet amount
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the last wager
Pot - Increase the last wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
-
Each player is dealt 5 cards. Only you can play those cards.
Dealer Button
Deal cards starting to the left of the dealer button. Blinds are forced bets that must be placed. Dealer button moves one position left after each hand.
Each round the action will start on the first live hand left of the dealer button.
Players who remain in the hand have two choices:
-
Draw up to five cards during each round or
-
Choose to stand pat and keep their current hand without drawing.
-
Players should make their declarations in turn.
There are four betting rounds in the game: one after the initial deal, and one following each of the three draw rounds.
4 Betting Rounds
The Goal
The goal of is to make the best 5 card hand using the standard hand rankings.
The player with the best 5-card tabled hand wins the pot. You must show all cards.
Showdown
Match - the bet amount
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the last wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
-
These 3 games are Draw / Discard based games.
In Badugi you are dealt 4 cards.
In Badeucey and Badacey you are dealt 5 cards.
Players who don’t fold can draw up to 4 cards per round.
Badugi
The goal is to make a hand with four different suits and no pairs. With the lowest cards possible. (A,2,3,4)
Badeucey
It is a split pot game where half of the pot goes to the best Badugi hand. And half of the pot goes to the best 2-7 (lowball) hand. *Without making a Straight* (2,3,4,5,7)
Ace is a bad card in this game.
Badacey
This is also a split pot game where half of the hand goes to the best Badugi hand and the other half goes to the best A-5 lowball hand. (A,2,3,4,5)
Ante Up!
These games can be played with Antes to start the hand.
OR you can use the Dealer button Small blind Big blind rotation.
These games are capped at 6 or 7-handed.
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
Each player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up.
What is a street?
The dealer always deals from the left and moves clockwise around the table. Each time a card is dealt, it kicks off a new betting round, referred to as a "street."
The goal of Stud is to make the best hand using the best 5 out of 7 cards. Using the standard hand rankings.
Ante Up!
Depending on how your game is organized, either player puts in an ante at the start of each hand, or one person can cover the ante for all players, and the ante can rotate to the next person in turn each hand.
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
The Bring In
A forced bet the player showing the lowest card 3rd street card.
Action on 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th street starts on whoever has the best hand showing.
Each player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up.
What is a street?
The dealer always deals from the left and moves clockwise around the table. Each time a card is dealt, it kicks off a new betting round, referred to as a "street."
The goal of Razz is to make the WORST hand possible.
-
Worst 5 out of 7 cards.
-
Flushes and straights do not matter.
-
A, 2, 3,4,5 is the Best-Worst hand you can make.
-
Ace is low. King is high.
-
Read hands in descending order.
8, 6, 5, 4, 2 vs. 6, 4, 3, 2, A. -
The 6, 4 will beat the 8,6 hand because 6, 4 is lower than 8, 6 making it a worse hand.
Ante Up!
Depending on how your game is organized, either player puts in an ante at the start of each hand, or one person can cover the ante for all players, and the ante can rotate to the next person in turn each hand.
Action Is On You
Player Options
Check - Pass the action
Bet - Place a wager
Raise - Increase the wager
Call - Match the bet amount
Fold - Forfeit the hand
The Bring In
A forced bet the player showing the highest card 3rd street card.
Action on 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th street starts on whoever has the worst hand showing.
-
Hand Rankings
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
One Pair
High Card
