Holdem Champions with Live Dealers

Hole cards are the two face-down cards dealt to you at the start of each Holdem Champions hand. Only you see them; the dealer and other players cannot. You combine them with the five community cards to make your best five-card poker hand.

A side bet is an optional wager placed before the flop on whether your hole cards plus the community cards will form a specific hand like a flush or straight. It pays independently of the main pot and settles the moment all community cards are revealed.

The dealer button is a white disc that moves clockwise after each hand to mark the theoretical dealer position. The two players to its left post the small and big blinds; action starts with the player immediately left of the big blind on the first betting round.

Going all-in means you bet every chip in your current stack. You remain in the hand but cannot bet further; if other players bet more, a side pot forms for the amount you could not match. You can only win the main pot up to your all-in total.

A bad beat happens when you hold a very strong hand like a full house or flush and lose to an even stronger hand like a higher full house or straight flush. Some tables offer a bad-beat jackpot that pays both players when this occurs under specific hand-strength thresholds.

Community cards are five cards dealt face-up in the center of the table. They appear in three stages: the flop brings three cards, the turn adds one, and the river adds the final card. Every player uses them combined with their hole cards to form a five-card poker hand.