Texas Holdem Rules

Rules at The Showdown

The best 5 cards hand or the highest hand that can be made, wins. Players may form their final hands from any combination of the table cards and their own pocket cards, even ignoring the pocket cards and using only the table cards if they wish. Identical five-card hands split the pot; the sixth and seventh cards are not used to break ties.

If two or more players have the same hand, the next highest card in the player's hand (the kicker) is used to break a tie. If there is no kicker card (the tied players have used both hole cards, or have the exact same five card hand), then the pot is split between them. The dealer button is then passed clockwise to the next player and another round of play begins.