Forming a Five Card Hand

In texas holdem, players use the best combination of their two pocket cards and the five board cards to form a five-card poker hand. Unlike Omaha (another type of flop game otherwise similar to texas hold em), players can use any combination of their two pocket cards and the five board cards. So players can use...

1. Both their pocket cards and three of the board cards.
2. One of their pocket cards and four of the board cards.
3. Neither of their pocket cards and all five board cards, which is called "playing the board".

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In fact, players must use the exact combination of cards to make the best possible hand. Even if a player miscalls his or her hand, they still are credited with the best possible hand they could make. The idea is that the cards speak for themselves, and "cards speak" is the term used to reference the idea that your hand is the best possible combination of cards available to you.

Another idea that is essential to all poker games where players use the best five out of seven cards (or six, or ten, or whatever) is that you only use five cards. If two players have the same hand, they don't go on to a sixth or seventh card to determine who the winner is. So in this example...

Player One                   Player Two
Ace of Spades Queen of Spades          Ace of Diamonds Eight of Hearts

The five community cards are:
Ace of Hearts Four of Spades King of Diamonds Jack of Diamonds Four of Clubs


Player 1 and Player 2 both have the same hand and split the pot. The best possible combination of cards would be two pair, aces and fours, with a king kicker. Player 1 does not win because his sixth card would be the queen. You never take into account a sixth card. You also never use the suits to determine the winner. For more information on splitting pots, check out the related links up to the right...

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