Formats
No-limit Texas Hold'em (NLHE)
A Hold'em game where each player receives two private cards and may wager every chip in their stack.
Also known as: NLHE, no-limit Hold'em, Texas Hold'em, Hold'em
How a Hold’em hand works
Each player starts with two private hole cards. The shared board arrives in three stages: three cards on the flop, one on the turn and one on the river. A betting round takes place before the flop and after each stage of the board. The small blind and big blind put chips into the pot before the first betting round.
At showdown, compare the best five-card hand each player can make from their two hole cards and the five board cards. You may use both hole cards, just one, or neither. If every other player folds before showdown, the remaining player wins the pot without needing to show the best hand.
What “no-limit” means
No-limit describes the betting structure, not an unlimited bankroll. When betting is open to you, you can wager up to the chips you have in front of you. Minimum bet and raise rules still apply. You cannot add money to your stack during a hand to increase the amount you can win.
Against one opponent, the smaller of your two stacks determines how much each of you can put at risk against the other. If you have 100 chips and that opponent has 40, you cannot win 100 from them in this hand. In a pot with several players, separate side pots can be needed when someone is all-in.
Worked example: choosing the best five cards
Your hole cards are ace of spades and queen of diamonds. The board is ace of clubs, jack of hearts, nine of spades, six of clubs and two of diamonds. Your best hand is a pair of aces with queen, jack and nine as kickers. The six and two do not play.
An opponent holding ace of hearts and ten of clubs also has a pair of aces, but their best kickers are jack, ten and nine. Your queen kicker wins the comparison. Compare the actual five cards, rather than treating every pair of aces as the same hand.
Try the rule before studying strategy
For a first exercise, name the current street, identify the pot and each remaining stack, then write down the best five cards at showdown. These observations come before deciding whether a bet is attractive. A strong starting hand can still lose after the board changes.
First Hand introduces the table and basic decisions. The free public practice page offers a separate worked river-betting exercise; membership adds the structured study path. Start with the rules you can explain, then add one decision at a time.