How to Determine the Winning Hand in Texas Hold’em

The first thing players brand new to Texas hold’em have to learn is how to read the board or five “community cards” in order to determine the winning hand. The most important thing to remember is that when making your hand you use the best five cards available among the seven total cards — that is, your two hole cards plus the five cards on the board.

In hold’em you can use any five cards out of the seven to make your hand — in fact, you don’t even have to use the two hole cards which were dealt to you! This is called “playing the board,” and it happens if your best five-card poker hand is the one which is on the board in front of you.

For example, if you get dealt pocket aces and the board…