A tournament usualy starts with each player being dealt one card face up, to determine who will start off the betting. The person who is dealt the highest card is the dealer. This means that the person to the left of the dealer will now become small blind and the person to the left of small blind will become big blind. The small blind will have to place half a bet into the pot, the big blind will have to place a full bet into the pot, before the cards are dealt. The reason why it is important that you have to start with these two forced bets is because if everyone is dealt a weak hand then there will be no chips in the pot to win.

Everone will then be dealt two cards. These are sometimes called hole cards. After the small blind and the big blind has placed their bets the action will now follow clockwise. The player will have three options, either call and place the same amount of chips into the pot as the big blind, or they can raise, or fold depending on the strenghth of their hand.

After everone has either called, folded or raised, the dealer will now place three cards onto the table. This is often called "the flop". Another round of betting can then take place. Then the dealer places another card on the table. This card is often called "the turn". Another round of betting can now take place. Then the final card is placed onto the table. This card is often called "the river". One final round of betting then takes place. The person holding the highest five card hand at the end of all the rounds of betting wins the amount of chips that are in the pot.

In tournament play this will carry on until eventually everyone has lost their chips and one
person has one them all. Of course if you are playing at a cash table then you can sit there play all day, and keep rebuying more chips.