Thanks in large part to the World Series of Poker, Texas Hold’em poker online has become the most popular poker variation. This guide will teach you how to play Texas Hold’em online including different types of bets, basic poker strategy, game variations, and terminology. This page will also highlight where to play Texas Hold’em online.
Here are legal USA online gambling sites our team of experts recommend players use to play online Texas Hold’em for real money:
When reviewing the top Texas Hold’em online poker rooms, our resident experts rigorously analzye each site according to our rating system. Unfortunately, not all poker rooms meet our high standards. We do not recommend the poker rooms listed to the right.
The deal and wagering process in a game of Texas Hold’em Poker online goes like this:
Once all remaining players have finalized their bets, each player reveals their ‘hole’ cards, and the best poker hand wins the pot.
Want to know what it takes to play Texas Hold’em online or just catch your friends off guard at your next poker game? Watch our expert, Tommy Green, break it down for you.
Texas hold’em is so-called due to the Texas Legislature officially recognizing Robstown, Texas as the birthplace of the world’s most popular poker game format. That definition may go back to the early 1900s but, in truth, no one really knows when Texas Hold’em was invented. Was the game born on the Mississippi riverboats or in France or China a century earlier? None can say for sure, but one thing is certain, Texas Hold’em has made poker the global mindsport it is today.
Introduced to Las Vegas in 1963, Texas Hold’em took some time to gain traction. First, it was a novelty at the Golden Nugget, Stardust, and Dunes Casinos as a side-game to table action such as roulette. A group of Texan players including Doyle Brunson, Crandell Addington and Amarillo Slim help popularize the game.
Addington described the game’s formation when he said, “[In] draw poker, you bet only twice; hold’em, you bet four times. That meant you could play strategically. This was more of a thinking man’s game.”
After Texas Hold’em was played at the 1969 Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention, one year later the World Series of Poker was born, with Benny and Jack Binion acquiring the rights to and hosting the game at Binion’s Horseshoe on the Vegas Strip. Ever since then, no-Limit Texas Hold’em has been played as the WSOP Main Event. After an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the $2.5 million top prize in 2003 from an $80 Texas Hold’em poker online satellite tournament, Texas Hold’em poker online has surged in popularity and becomes the world’s favorite poker version to play.
There aren’t many differences between land based and online Texas Hold’em. One of the biggest differences is that in an online poker room, you can not see your opponents. Therefore, you can’t read your opponents and that might be one of your strategies.
There are other ways of reading players online. Most players will analyse their opponents’ nicknames, how they behave in the chat room, and their betting behaviours to better understand their opponents’ tendencies.
Another big difference you will encounter is the speed of the games. In a brick-and-mortar casino, the dealers will usually be fast but they can never be as fast as a computer. You can see maybe twice as many hands being played in an hour online.
Game variety in an online casino will greatly differ from a land-based casino. In a land-based casino you will find maybe a dozen or so tables playing and the games and the limits available will be limited. The beauty of online Texas Hold’em poker is that there are nearly an infinite number of games going on at all times with unlimited variety.The only limit you might face while playing online is that some rooms will have restrictions for certain countries.
In order to attract new players, the best online Texas Hold’em real money sites will often advertise significant welcome bonuses specifically for poker players. This is typically a dollar-for-dollar match of your first deposit and a percentage match on every other deposit. Also, look for added kickbacks for Bitcoin deposits.
In the event one tires of playing the most popular Texas Hold’em online variation, No Limit, experienced players will want to find poker sites that offer variations of the game like pot limit and mixed Texas Hold’em. Also, be on the lookout for unique tournament offerings at the best online poker sites.
Before signing up and making a first deposit, be sure to review each site’s poker room table attendance. Are most virtual tables full or a little thin? To play Texas Hold’em online is more enjoyable with a full table. Weak attendance could be a red flag that you’re at the wrong online casino.
In Texas Hold’em poker online, like in other online variations, when it comes time to bet, players have five options: fold, check, bet, call, or raise.
Here are some quick tips to get you started in a game of Texas Hold’em poker!
If you play passively, you are playing to lose in Texas Hold’em. To avoid being passive, you should bet and raise instead of checking and calling.
This is normally less important than playing aggressively but it is still important of you are a new player. To be tight and aggressive as a strategy is the most consistently profitable way to go for new players. Especially if you are playing against passive players, some players do well if they are aggressive.
Most Texas Hold’em players won’t pay enough attention to their position when deciding which hands to play and how to play them. The tip is simple enough, have more strict requirements from your hands in an early position.
Bluffing adds an extra excitement to the game! If you are going to bluff however, you should do it in a late position when you are against one or two opponents. Your odds of success in bluffing will go way down against 3+ players, unless you are playing against very tight players.
You should always try the free games first and get used to how everything works. This was you will avoid costly mistakes and you can practice your strategies without the risk of losing any real money.
While some poker sites still offer apps for download, the majority of the Texas hold’em online poker rooms we recommend have optimized their websites for all mobile devices. That means in order to get into a game, all you have to do is fire up your device’s web browser, log into your account and enjoy the same experience you would on a PC or laptop at home.
The reason many of the Texas hold’em poker online operators we promote have gravitated away from third-party apps is because they can be clunky, require a lot of maintenance, have a tendency to crash mid-hand, and suck up a lot of storage on the phone.
Deciding which site to play Texas hold’em online at can be a stressful process. Our goal is to help you take some of the pressure off the table and make an informed decision about the best online Texas hold’em real money casinos.
| Poker Room | Welcome Bonus* | Mobile Texas Hold’em Online? | Ready to Play? |
| Ignition | $1,000 | Yes | Let’s Go! |
| Bovada | $600 | Yes | Let’s Go! |
| Everygame | 200% up to $1,000 + 25 Free Spins | Yes | Let’s Go! |
| BetOnline | $1,000 | Yes | Let’s Go! |
*Subject to change
All the best poker sites will offer generous welcome bonuses and other promotions to get the attention of new players as well as keep the existing ones. Most popular bonuses like free spins are not useful when it comes to online poker. The bonuses you will see in poker rooms will usually be one of the following:
Not to be confused with freerolls, no deposit bonuses will give players a small sum of money to bet on tables without having them make a deposit first.
Welcome bonus is as the name suggests, the first bonus you will get at any poker site when you register for the first time.
One of the most popular bonuses amongst players, a match bonus will allow you to get bonus cash. The casino will match your first deposit with an equal amount of compensation. However, match bonuses can be above 100%.
All bonuses will have wagering requirements attached to them. They will require you to bet a certain amount of bonus cash to be able to withdraw it as real money. To exemplify, if you have $100 of bonus cash with a wagering requirement of 30x the value of your bonus, you will need to bet $3,000 before you can cash out that bonus money.
Keep your emotions in check, don’t chase losses, and don’t bet recklessly. Have a plan and stick to it. Winning at Texas Hold’em poker online is a marathon, not a sprint.
Expert poker players know that there’s no shame in folding if you think you’ve been beaten in Texas Hold’em online. Watch the table carefully, learn your opponent’s tendencies, and don’t let your ego take over. By folding when you’re beaten, you can protect your bankroll and live to fight another day.
This is a crucial part of any Texas Hold’em online wagering strategy, regardless of the game. Carefully decide how much money you have available per session & per hand, and stick to it. For beginners, we recommend setting a self-limitation of no more than two buy-ins per session.
Nearly all variations of poker use the standard 52-card deck and that is true when you play Texas hold’em online. The value ranking of each card goes in descending order (Ace > King > Queen > Jack > 10 > 9, etc.)
The following table will show common online Texas hold’em real money poker hand variations, ranked from best to worst:
| Texas Hold’em Online Hand Name | Cards | Example Hand |
| Royal Flush | A, K, Q, J, 10 – same suit |  |
| Straight Flush | Five sequential cards – same suit |  |
| Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same value, one of each suit – fifth card doesn’t matter |  |
| Full House | Three cards of the same value, and a pair of an additional value |  |
| Flush | Five cards of the same suit – any order |  |
| Straight | Five sequential cards – any suit |  |
| Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same value – other two cards don’t matter |  |
| Two Pair | Two cards of the same value and two cards of a different value – fifth card doesn’t matter |  |
| One Pair | Two cards of the same value – other three cards don’t matter |  |
| No Pair | All five cards of different values and not all the same suit |
When playing Texas hold’em online, it’s good to study and learn basic poker terminology. We highlight some of the more common words tossed around the table below:
The amount of money being wagered and added to the pot.
In order to get some action into the pot prior to the flop, these are mandatory bets in addition to the small and big blinds.
When a player risks all their remaining chips before seeing the hand play out.
The larger of the two pre-flop bets. The big blind is the player seated two spots to the left of the dealer.
Pre-flop mandatory bets by the two players seated to the left of the dealer.
When a player pretends to have a strong hand or stronger than they actually possess. You can also “slow play” a strong hand, which is another form of bluffing.
When the dealer takes the top card and sets it aside in the muck, that’s the burn or “to burn” a card before turning the next card (2nd from top of deck) over.
When a player matches another player’s wager.
When a player elects not to place a bet and passes the action to the next player. This is done either verbally or by tapping the felt or both.
When a player is in a hand or all-in one-on-one and they know they can’t win no matter which cards the dealer turns over.
The first three community cards turned face up by the dealer.
The two cards a player receives face down.
When a player has wagered so much money into the pot that their chip bankroll remaining is significantly less that it’s too late to muck their hand.
Weak hand of cards are also known as rags.
The fifth and last community card turned face up by the dealer, which is also referred to as fifth street by some.
When a player is positioned directly to the left of the dealer, it’s the smaller of the two mandatory bets before the flop to create a pot of money to build off of.
When you play Texas hold’em online and bet with volatile emotion rather than strategy and patience.
The fourth community card turned face up by the dealer and is also known as fourth street.
No, enjoying Texas Hold’Em online is legal and no one in the United States has ever been prosecuted federally or at the state level. To find out more about legal online gambling in the USA, check out our state-by-state guide.
There are four rounds of betting in Texas Hold’Em Poker. The first betting round is done pre-flop when players only have their two hole cards. The next opportunity to wager is after the flop when the first three community cards are distributed. The turn is after the fourth community card is shown and the final betting round is after the last shared card (the river) has been revealed.
The first thing you need to do to get started with Texas Hold’Em online Poker is to sign up to a poker room. At the top of the page, our casino experts have listed a few of their favorite and trusted online poker rooms..
In Texas Hold’Em Poker each players receive two cards face down referred to as hole card. Then throughout betting rounds, five more cards are eventually distributed in the middle of the table. These cards are called the “community cards or shared cards” because each player uses them.
Most online casinos and online poker rooms have Texas Hold’Em poker free games. These free poker games are great for new players looking to play hands and get some experience or veteran players experimenting with new strategies.
