If this is you first time playing Texas Holdem. Here is the basics:

The game is about creating thebest possible hand through combining different cards called community cards with their own two hidden cards. One example of the play is; if you start with two Jacks and the other player gets two Nines to start with. Then the community cards show up and amongst the three cards in the first flop there is two fives, now you both have two pairs, but there is another opponent who is lucky to have a five in his starting hand, he is the winner because he got triples.

There are some things you are required to know. What is the blinds? How and when do I bet? When should I fold out or raise?

To start with are the blinds.

Before cards are given out. Two players are called the blinds, they are situated next to the dealer, the big blind closest to the dealers left and then the small blind. They are forced to place an amount of chips on the table to stimulate action. In an $10-$20 game of holdem, the blinds are $5 and $10.

Betting

After the blinds have put their money on the table, the cards are dealt to each player. Two cards each to start with. Your starting hand is invisible to the other players. After the cards have been dealt the players are allowed to check, raise or fold. After all the players have bet on their cards, the three community cards are shown, these are called the community cards also called the flop. After that there is time to bet again. Here it's up to each player if they think it's worth to bet on their cards or if don't don't think its worth they'll fold, or some may even bluff. Then there are another card shown amongst the community cards, this is the fourth card. After another round of betting after the fourth card, the fifth card is shown and here the two cards that you started with is compared with the flop to see who of the players has the best hand. Simple as that.

Fold your cards if the outcome doesn't look good.

Since the most part of your hand is defined in the flop. It takes a strong hand or the opportunity to create a winning hand to stay in the pot for the latter cards. Another reason will be if you think that the other players will fold his cards if you raise after the fourth or fifth card.

First two cards are the most important.

Often players tell you that all starting hands can win, its partly true, but even if they can win, they won't win often enough. You will need a standard, if you don't have a standard, you will often go too far with bad hands.