Play Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em at PokerStars Casino

Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em is an exciting five-card poker variant that pits the player against the dealer, head to head. Join our Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em tables to challenge our live dealers - don’t worry about trying to keep your poker face, just use your intuition to try and beat the dealer and drag the pot.

Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em - Basic Rules

Just like in regular Hold’em and most other poker variants, the best five-card poker hand wins the pot. After placing ante and blind bets, there are three chances to raise at different points in the game, but a player may only raise once per hand . Each player placing an ante and blind bet also has the option of placing a Trips bonus bet .

Players receive two hole cards face-up, and the dealer receives two hole cards face-down. At this point the player may check or ‘raise’ by placing a play bet , of either x3 or x4 the value of their ante.  Three shared community cards (the flop) are then spread. If the player didn’t make a play bet before the flop, they may do so now to x2 the ante bet value. The dealer now deals the remaining two community cards, after which the player has a 3rd and final chance to make a play bet (if they have not already done so). A player who has not yet made a play bet must do so now, to the equivalent of the ante bet, or fold.

If the dealer has not made a qualifying hand (a pair or better):

Any players still in will receive their ante bets back. Blind and play bets will be settled according to the payout tables (see the Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em Rules page for detailed information), as long as the player’s hand is better than the dealer’s. If the player’s hand is worse than the dealer’s hand, they will not receive a payout for blind or play bets. If the player’s hand is equal to the dealer’s, blind and play bets are returned.

If the dealer has made a qualifying hand (a pair or better):

Players who cannot beat the dealer’s hand will lose ante, blind and play bets. Hands that beat the dealer will have their bets settled according to the payout tables on our Rules page . In the event of a tie, all bets are returned except Trips bonus bets, which are settled individually.

The theoretical return to player (RTP) for Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em is 97.82%.

The theoretical return to player (RTP) for the Trips bonus bet in Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em is 98.10%.

To see ante/bonus payout odds, and for more details on how to play the game, please visit our Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em Rules page .

Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em can be played for a range of stakes, and can also be enjoyed on Private tables, available exclusively to our players. Visit the Casino tab in your desktop client to choose your table and get started.

You can also play Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em games on your iOS or Android phone and tablet, as well as in your web browser (where available). See here to find out more.

For more detailed information on how to play Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em, visit our Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em Rules page.

Contact Support if you have any questions about playing Live Ultimate Texas Hold’em.