Play Texas hold'em online

How multiplayer Texas hold'em works

Playing Texas hold'em online with other people, step by step: the code, the seats, the table rules, and what happens when somebody drops out.

Opening a table and inviting players

One person opens the table and is its host; that needs a free account. The table gets a six-character code, and "Copy link" gives you an invitation to paste into any chat. On a phone "Challenge a friend" stands beside it, and hands that invitation straight to Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever else you chat in. Whoever opens the link types the name they want at the table and sits down as a guest — nobody else needs an account, and nothing has to be installed on a phone or a computer.

Hold'em seats two to ten. Friends who arrive after the first hand has been dealt cannot join that game, so wait until everyone is in the lobby before you start. There is no chat at the table itself; most groups play on a call or in the same room.

Chips and blinds

Before the deal the host chooses the starting stack — 100, 200 or 500 chips each — and the blinds: 1/2, 2/4 or 5/10. Everybody sees the host's choices in their own lobby as they are made, so nobody finds out the stakes when the cards arrive. The chips are only for the game; nothing here costs money.

Deep stacks at small blinds make a long evening where skill has time to show. Short stacks at big blinds push players all in sooner, which suits a table that wants a result in half an hour.

Seats and empty chairs

Players sit in the order they joined, which is also the order the lobby lists them, and the dealer button moves one seat round every hand. If you are short of players, the host can press "Add an opponent" to put a bot in an empty chair before the game starts. Bots see only their own cards and play at about a second a decision.

The host starts the game once at least two are seated. From then on no new player — person or bot — can sit down in that game.

Playing a hand together

Everybody sees their own two cards and the board; nobody's browser is ever sent anybody else's hole cards, so there is nothing to peek at. When it is your turn the table says what it costs to call, and your options are exactly the bets the rules allow at that moment.

After a showdown the table waits for everyone to press "I've seen enough" before dealing again, so nobody misses who won with what. A player who loses all their chips keeps their seat and watches until the game ends, which happens when one player holds every chip.

When somebody drops out

A closed tab or a lost connection does not cost anyone their seat. The table shows the player as away and waits twenty-five seconds; after that a bot plays their hand so the others can carry on, and the seat is handed back the moment they open the table again. Somebody who presses Leave in the middle of a game is replaced by a bot for good.

If the host leaves, hosting passes to whoever has been sitting longest. A table nobody plays at for six hours is cleared away.