Texas Holdem can be played with 2 - any number of players. Usually the limit would be around 10 to keep the game time at a managable length (with 10 players you could be looking at up to 4 hours playing time).

Before you begin, the deck should be cut to determine the dealer. He/she is then given the dealer chip which can be anything from a bottle cap to an actual chip with the words "dealer" on it.

The two players left of the dealer should then place there blinds on the table. These are simply the chips that will be bet before any cards are dealt. The 1st player on the left places the small blind and the 2nd player, the big blind.

John is the dealer.
Betty who sits to the left places 1 chip.
Frank - the next player to the left - places 2 chips.

Frank	Betty	John

After each hand, the dealer chip moves to the left, and that player then deals. This means everybody gets a chance to be the dealer, and get all the perks that this brings with it. The next hand would therefore be:

Frank	Betty	John

Over time, the blinds will be raised to encourage positive play. Therefore in 30 minutes, the bet may be 2 chips and 4 chips. For example:

Frank	Betty	John

Example of "Blinds".

The dealer would then deal 2 cards to each player, and betting would begin.

Example (3 players) Dealer deals 2 cards to each player (face down):

John	Betty	Frank
10 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Q ♦ ♦ ♦	K ♣ ♣ ♣ 3 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦	7 ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ 7 ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Betting then commences. Once the round of betting has finished, The Flop is dealt. This is simply the 3 cards that will be shared amongst all the players. They can be dealt individually, but for greater effect, they should be dealt face down, and then all 3 cards flopped over.

Another round of betting then commences. A total of 5 shared cards will dealt, so at this point, players will be betting on the possibility of making a good 5 card hand from a total of 7 (5 shared cards, 2 hole cards).

For example, at this point John may be thinking that there is a chance of a flush (hearts), where as Betty and John may be thinking that a three-of-a-kind may be on the cards (pardon the pun!).

Once betting has finished, the fourth card, or The Turn card is dealt:

Another round of betting commences. In this example, the flush is looking good for John, while Frank now has 3 sevens! Betty is still sitting with a pair of threes and so decides to fold this hand, leaving John and Frank to battle it out.

Once players have bet, again on the strength of a 5 card hand from a possible 7, the 5th or River card is dealt:

Betting then commences for the final time. Any players left in the game, are now betting on the best 5-card hand from a total of 7. Once betting has completed, each player turns over their Hole cards. The player with the highest ranked 5-card hand wins all the chips in the Pot. The Dealer Chip is then passed to the next player and a new round of the game begins.

In the above example, we can see that Frank won, with a full house over Johns Flush.