What Is the Flop, Turn, and River in Texas Hold'em?
The flop, turn, and river are the three stages of dealing community cards in Texas Hold’em. The flop is three cards dealt at once, the turn is the fourth card, and the river is the fifth and final card. Together they make the “board” — five face-up cards everyone at the table can use to make their hand.
Each stage triggers its own round of betting. One card is always “burned” (discarded face-down) before each stage to prevent cheating.
The three stages at a glance
| Stage | Cards dealt | Total on board | Betting round after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flop | 3 at once | 3 | Flop betting |
| Turn | 1 | 4 | Turn betting |
| River | 1 | 5 | River betting |
After the river’s betting round, the hand goes to showdown if two or more players remain.
The flop
After preflop betting closes, the dealer burns one card face-down and then deals three community cards face-up in the middle of the table. This is the flop.
The flop — King of spades, 8 of hearts, 3 of diamondsThe flop is the single most information-rich moment in a Hold’em hand. You’ve gone from two private cards and total uncertainty to five cards you know about (your two hole cards plus three community). Suddenly you can see whether you’ve hit a pair, a draw, two pair, a set — or completely missed.
After the flop, a new betting round starts. The first active player to the left of the dealer button acts first.
The turn
After flop betting closes, the dealer burns another card and deals one more community card face-up next to the flop. This is the turn (sometimes called “fourth street”).
Flop plus turn — the Jack of clubs is the fourth community cardThe turn is where pot odds and draw math get crunchier. Now you have six known cards (two hole + four board) and only one more to come. Draws that were mathematically worth chasing on the flop often aren’t worth chasing anymore on the turn — the probability has shifted because there’s only one card left.
Turn betting follows the same order as flop betting.
The river
After turn betting closes, the dealer burns one more card and deals the final community card face-up. This is the river (sometimes called “fifth street”).
The complete board after the riverAfter the river, all community cards are out. Every player now knows their final seven cards (two hole + five board) and their final five-card hand. There are no more draws, no more “what if the next card is…” — this is what it is.
The river triggers the fourth and final betting round. After that, if players remain, they head to showdown.
Why cards are “burned”
Before each of the three stages, the dealer burns (discards face-down) the top card of the deck. Burn cards are never shown to anyone. The practice comes from the days when dealers used marked cards — if the top card was somehow marked or peeked, the burn ensured that the next card dealt came from the unknown pile.
In modern casinos with professionally shuffled decks, burn cards are mostly ceremonial. But the rule persists because it costs nothing and still protects against shady practice. Three burns per hand means 24 cards from the deck go unseen by any player — which is why Hold’em can feel like “anything can come” even though the math is fixed.
Why the flop is dealt all at once
You might wonder why the flop is three cards at once instead of one at a time with betting between each. Two reasons:
- Game pace. Betting between every single flop card would slow the game to a crawl.
- Strategic shape. The flop as a single event gives the hand a clear structure: preflop (no board), flop (three cards + betting), turn (add one + betting), river (add one + betting). Four betting rounds is the industry-standard pace for a single hand.
This structure — preflop, flop, turn, river — is what makes Hold’em Hold’em. Omaha, Seven Card Stud, and other variants use different deal patterns. The flop/turn/river cadence is specifically Hold’em.
Can you still win at any point?
Yes. A hand ends immediately when only one player is left. If everyone folds before the flop, the pre-flop raiser wins without a flop ever being dealt. If everyone folds on the turn, the turn winner never sees the river. Most hands in a normal game end before showdown — the flop/turn/river structure is the maximum, not the required path.