Loading rules
Game rules
No-Limit Texas Hold'em against other players. You sit down with a stack, play hand after hand and cash out when you leave. The house deals the cards and takes a small rake, and never plays a hand. These are the rules enforced by the JustPoker game engine; where the table and this page could ever disagree, the engine's published tests are the reference.
Texas Hold'em is played with one 52-card deck. Each player gets two cards of their own and shares five community cards with everyone else; the best five-card hand from those seven wins the pot, unless everyone else has folded first. In No-Limit you may bet any amount from the big blind up to every chip in front of you.
At a cash table the chips are money. You take a stack from your balance to a free seat, play as many hands as you like and take what is left back to your balance when you leave. You play the other players at the table, never the house: we deal the cards, run the clock and take a 3% rake from pots that see a flop, capped per table, and nothing else. No account of ours and no bot sits at a table.
Every hand is dealt from a table seed committed before the hand and the client seeds of every player in it, and every seed is revealed after its last hand, so you can check any hand you played on our Provably Fair page.
Every table has its own blinds, buy-in range and rake cap. Amounts are whole cents. You buy in for 40 to 100 big blinds, never more than your balance, and you may hold one seat at one table at a time. Anyone can see the list of tables in the lobby; opening a table, to watch or to sit down, needs a free account and a sign-in.
| Table | Blinds | Buy-in | Rake cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violet6-max | 5¢/10¢ | $4 – $1040 – 100 BB | 20¢ |
| Amethyst6-max | 25¢/50¢ | $20 – $5040 – 100 BB | $1 |
| DuelHeads-up | 25¢/50¢ | $20 – $5040 – 100 BB | 30¢ |
| Royal6-max | $1/$2 | $80 – $20040 – 100 BB | $2.50 |
Add chips whenever the table is open, up to the table's maximum. During a hand the top-up waits until the hand ends.
Back at the same table within this time, you buy in for at least what you left with (see Your seat).
Every buy-in is checked before it is taken
The two players after the button post the small and the big blind. A player who has just sat down, or is back from sitting out, posts a big blind too, or waits for it.
Every player dealt in receives two hole cards, face down, that only they can see. The deck is fixed before the deal and nothing is burned.
The first player after the big blind acts first: fold, call the big blind or raise. Betting goes round until every player still in has matched the highest bet or is all-in.
Three community cards (the flop), then a fourth (the turn), then a fifth (the river), each followed by a round of betting started by the first player still in after the button.
If more than one player is left after the river, the best five cards from each player's two hole cards and the five community cards win. Cards speak: the table reads every hand for you.
The pots are paid, the results stay on the felt for a moment, the button moves clockwise to the next player in the rotation and the next hand is dealt.
Fold, Check or Call and Raise are on the table when it is your turn, with a slider and quick sizes for the raise. Before your turn you can choose Check/Fold, Check or Call any in advance. On a computer:
The button marks the dealer's seat. The next player posts the small blind and the one after that the big blind, so every pot starts with money in it. The other positions are named by where they act: UTG (Under the gun), HJ (Hijack), CO (Cutoff).
Before the flop the first player after the big blind acts first and the big blind acts last. On the flop, turn and river the first player still in after the button acts first and the button acts last.
Heads-up, with two players, the button posts the small blind and acts first before the flop, then last on every later street.
How the button moves. The players in the rotation are those who were dealt the last hand and are ready for the next one. After each hand the button moves clockwise to the next of them. It passes over empty seats, players who are sitting out, leaving or out of chips, and players who have just sat down or come back from sitting out: they join the rotation when they are first dealt in, and never get the button straight away, even when they are dealt in at once by posting a big blind. When fewer than two players of the last hand are ready, the table starts afresh: every ready player is in the rotation and the button moves clockwise to the next of them. The first hand after the site restarts puts the button on the lowest-numbered seat that is ready.
Joining a hand. When you sit down at a table that is already playing, or come back from sitting out, you post one big blind to be dealt in at the next hand, or tick Wait for big blind and join when the big blind reaches you (you are dealt in then without paying extra). A player who sits down between the button and the blinds waits until the blinds have passed. When a table starts afresh, everyone ready is dealt in and only the blinds are posted.
No missed blinds. We keep this simple: there is no dead small blind, nothing is owed for the hands you missed while sitting out, and there is no dead button: the button is always on a player who is dealt in. A player who cannot cover a blind posts what they have and is all-in.
On your turn you may fold, check when there is nothing to call, call the highest bet, or bet or raise. A bet is at least the big blind. A raise must add at least as much as the largest full bet or raise of the same round, so that every raise is at least as big as the one before it. You may always go all-in for every chip you have, even when that is less than a call.
A short all-in does not reopen the betting. An all-in that raises by less than a full raise is a call plus a little more: players who have not acted yet may still raise, but a player who has already acted and now faces only that extra may call it or fold, not raise again. Several short all-ins that add up to a full raise do reopen the betting.
Facing only all-ins. When every other player still in the hand is all-in, nobody could answer a raise: you may call or fold, not raise. A call that takes all your chips is still a call.
Uncalled bets come back. When nobody can call all of a bet, the part nobody matched is returned to the player who bet it before any pot is made. It is never in a pot and never raked.
Betting on each round ends once every player still in has acted and matched the highest bet, or is all-in. When at most one player still has chips to bet and two or more are in the hand, every hand is turned face up and the remaining cards are dealt with no more betting.
Violet, blinds 5¢/10¢, six players. Played through the game engine.
The same table, 4 players on the flop.
A player who is all-in can win only what they could match from each other player. Everything above that goes into a side pot that only the players who put it in can win. The pots are built once the betting is over, from what every player put into the hand.
Two players are all-in for different amounts, one bets more than anyone can call and one folds. The board:
| Player | Cards | Put in | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnnAll-in | 50¢5 BB | Three of a Kind, Kings | |
| BenAll-in | $1.2012 BB | Pair of Aces | |
| CleoBet the most | $220 BB | King-high | |
| DevFolded on the turn | 80¢8 BB | Folded |
| Pot | Amount | Players in it | Rake | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main pot | $2 | Ann, Ben and Cleo | 6¢ | Ann $1.94 |
| Side pot | $1.70 | Ben and Cleo | 5¢ | Ben $1.65 |
Cards speak. Each hand is the best five of the player's two hole cards and the five community cards, read by the table. Suits never break a tie: equal hands split the pot.
Who shows. At a showdown the first hand shown is that of the last player to bet or raise on the river, or, if nobody did, of the first player still in after the button. Every hand that wins a pot is shown, and so is every hand of a player who was all-in with the cards turned up. The other hands are mucked: they lose and are never shown to the other players. When everyone else folds, the last player wins without showing.
Showing by choice. When the hand is over, any player who was dealt in may show their cards to the table, a folded or mucked hand included. Shown cards stay in the hand's record.
Split pots and odd chips. Equal winners share a pot equally. A cent that cannot be split goes to the first of them clockwise from the seat left of the button, then the next, and so on.
Computed by the game engine.
6 seats, the button on seat 4. A pot of 25¢ is split between seats 2 and 5. Clockwise from the seat left of the button, seat 5 comes first, so:
From strongest to weakest. Within a category the highest cards decide, then the kickers; suits never break a tie, so identical hands split the pot.
1. Royal Flush
Ten to Ace, all one suit.
2. Straight Flush
Five in sequence, all one suit. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest.
3. Four of a Kind
Four cards of one rank; the fifth card breaks a tie.
4. Full House
Three of a kind plus a pair; the three decide first.
5. Flush
Five of one suit; compared card by card from the top.
6. Straight
Five in sequence. The ace plays high or low.
7. Three of a Kind
Three of one rank and two kickers.
8. Two Pair
The higher pair decides, then the lower, then the kicker.
9. Pair
One pair and three kickers.
10. High Card
Nothing made; the highest cards decide.
The rake is the house's only income from the tables: 3% of the pots of every hand in which the flop is dealt, rounded down to the cent and capped per hand. It is the same whoever wins.
| Table | Rake | Cap | Cap reached at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violet5¢/10¢ | 3% | 20¢ | $6.67 pot |
| Amethyst25¢/50¢ | 3% | $1 | $33.34 pot |
| Royal$1/$2 | 3% | $2.50 | $83.34 pot |
| Duel25¢/50¢ | 3% | 30¢ | $10 pot |
For example, a pot of $2 at Violet that sees a flop pays 6¢. Pots from the “cap reached at” size up pay the cap and no more.
You have 15 seconds for each decision. After that your time bank runs: 30 seconds when you sit down, plus 5 seconds every 10 hands you are dealt, up to 60 seconds. The bank is used only for the time you take beyond the 15 seconds, and what you use is gone.
When time runs out the table checks for you if you can check, and otherwise folds your hand. For the rest of that hand every decision of yours is made the same way at once, and you sit out from the next hand until you come back.
The clock does not wait. It runs whether or not you are connected, and there is no all-in protection for a lost connection: a player who drops out is checked or folded like anyone whose time runs out.
| Moment | Time |
|---|---|
| A decision | 15 s |
| Time bank on sitting down | 30 s |
| Time bank, every 10 hands | +5 s |
| Time bank at most | 60 s |
| The deal, before the first decision | 1.8 s |
| After the flop, turn or river is dealt | 1.2 s |
| All-in: between the cards still to come | 1.8 s |
| Results, when everyone folded | 2.2 s |
| Results after a showdown | 5 s + 1.5 s a side pot |
| Before the next hand | 1.5 s |
A buy-in moves money from your balance to your stack at the table, and leaving moves what is left back. Your transactions show each one as a Table buy-in or a Table cash-out; inside a hand chips move only between the stacks and the pots. Every hand you play is in your hand history, with the cards you saw, every action and the pots.
Your limits. Money you take to a poker table counts toward your 24-hour wager and loss limits when you buy in or top up; what you take away counts as returned when you leave. Before every hand every seat is checked again: a player who can no longer play (over a limit, at the end of their session time limit, on a break or excluded) is stood up and cashed out before the cards are dealt.
Signing out, breaks and exclusion. When you sign out (on one device or all of them, or when your session time limit signs you out), complete a password reset, take a break or exclude yourself, or when our staff exclude you, suspend your account or sign you out, your seat is cashed out: at once, or, if you are in the hand being played, right after it (you fold when it is your turn).
Reality checks do not stop a table: the hands go on and your clock runs while the message is open, so answer it promptly.
Play within limits you set in advance
Every table deals from a table seed of its own. Its SHA-256 hash is shown at the table before the seed deals a single hand, together with the hash of the seed that will follow it, so the seed cannot be changed without the hash giving it away.
table:seed hash:nonce, where the nonce counts the hands the seed has dealt. Nobody chooses it.The price of verifiability: mucked cards
3 players dealt in at a table with the id “nl10”, nonce 0.
nl10:b79a92befc15a7fd63b88f4932b2dacdd801bbb3ac9ed6715bc7dd1fd9b9ed27:030d9447d54e8979d656f072d56f8f553971d057449af7e4d4894030aaf18fcfcNo house players, no bots. The house deals and takes the rake and has no interest in who wins a pot. No account of ours, no program and no member of our staff playing for us sits at a table.
Prohibited at every table (and grounds to void hands, withhold winnings and close accounts under our Terms):
Every table has its own chat room. Signed-in players can post messages of up to 200 characters; messages are deleted after 30 days.
The table is public
Blinds from 5¢/10¢ to $1/$2, a 3% rake capped per hand, no flop no drop. Your balance, limits and reality checks apply at the poker tables exactly as they do everywhere on JustPoker.
18+ only. Gambling can be harmful; play within limits you set in advance. Help is available through the organisations listed on our responsible gambling page.