Texas Hold 'Em hands are dealt by giving two cards to each player. Those two cards are used with five community cards to form the best five-card hand. The winner of a Texas Hold 'Em hand is determined by who has the best five-card hand, but the first two cards affects how the whole hand is played.

There are 1326 different two-card hand possibilities in Texas Hold 'Em. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck and no jokers are involved. Ace is the highest-ranked card in Texas Hold 'Em, and the best possible starting hand is AA of any suit. Other top hands include KK, QQ, JJ, Ace-King suited and any other high pocket pairs. The worst hands statistically are 7-2 off-suit, 8-2 off-suit, and other widespread cards like 10-2, 9-3 and 8-3. These hands should never be played unless it is a free hand for the player.

The dealer deals the hands in clockwise position, one card at a time, and deals to himself last. If a card is accidentally flipped over, it is ruled dead and the player will get another card when all the cards have been passed around. To the left of the dealer are the "Small Blind" and "Big Blind." These are antes paid every hand to guarantee that there will be money in the pot. Once all of the bets are made, the dealer deals a card face down (a burn card; burn cards are not used) and then flips over three community cards. Bets go around the table starting to the left of the dealer and continue to every player has either checked, called, raised or folded. Another card is dealt face down, and then the fourth community card is flipped over. The betting process continues, and then the dealer puts another card down and deals the fifth community card. Betting continues and a winner is determined. If everybody but one player folds before the hand is over, then that player is awarded the winner and a new hand starts, with the deal passing one player to the left and the blinds moving in the same order.

Texas Hold 'Em hands are filled with different phrases that players know and use on a regular basis. Some of the more popular names are as follows: pocket Aces are known as rockets, Ace-King is "big slick," pocket eights are known as snowmen and pocket twos are known as swans. The hands dealt face-down to players are known as "pocket" cards because only the player who is dealt them can see them. The first three community cards are known as the flop. The fourth card is the turn and the final card is the river.

Some starting hands in Texas Hold 'Em are valuable and worth playing. For example, a hand like 6-7 suited has the potential to catch a straight and a flush, or even a straight flush. Any suited connectors like that are valuable and should be played unless a large raise has been made. Unless you are slow-playing your hand, most players try to gain more chips by raising with pocket pairs. If the third card comes out during the hand, making three of a kind, you have a really good chance of winning.

Your position in a hand has a great effect on how you play it. For example, if you are first to act at a ten-person table and have an average hand like 10-9 unsuited, then you may want to just call or fold because you have nine other people in the hand and a raise would make you lose your ante. If you are in the big blind or small blind, you can take advantage by raising the other people on the last section of the turn. Many hands are won this way without seeing any other cards.