The rules of No Limit Texas Hold'Em (NLHE), as described by Basil.

Hold'Em allows up to 9 players at a single table. To start two players put in what're called blinds. In a normal ring game like you would find at a Vegas casino these blinds are $1 and $2. The small blind puts in 1 and the big blind, directly to his left, 2. They're called blinds because they act as if someone has put a bet in blind (i.e. without looking at their cards, because they have not yet been dealt). So it's like one person said, hey I'm gonna bet a dollar without even looking at my hand, and the guy next to him said, you know what, I'm gonna raise you an extra dollar without even looking at my hand.

Now dealing commences. Every player seated at the table is dealt two cards, referred to as hole cards. They are the only ones allowed to look at these cards. Based on the strength of these two cards (two aces, obviously, being the best) they can choose to continue with the hand or, if their starting cards are weak, fold. If they want to continue with the hand they have two options: call or raise. Call, because the $2 has already been put into the pot by the big blind. Or raise if they have a strong hand and want more money in the pot. This goes around the table until everyone has either called or folded. If no one raises the small blind only has to put in $1 because he has already put in 1. (Sorry if I sound condescending or anything I just want to be thorough since I can't tell if I'm losing you like I could if this were a real conversation)

Once all the betting has finished the dealer deals out three cards, known as the flop. These are dealt face up and are considered community cards, i.e. everyone who is in the hand may use them. Now the player uses the three cards on the flop and the two cards in their hand to make the best 5-card hand they can. Like, say, a person has two aces and the flop comes A 2 2. Now that player has a full house, three aces and two deuces. Likewise if another player had somehow managed to have A2 in his hand pre-flop he would also have a full house, two aces and three deuces. But yours would be better.

Now, based on the strength of your five-card hand there is a round of betting. Because it is no-limit you are allowed to bet up to the maximum amount of chips you have at the table at any point in the hand. Now this goes against what you sometimes see in movies where a character might only have 5 thousand dollars and someone else bets 10 thousand and the other player must throw in the keys to his Cadillac or deed to his home or something. If another player has more than you the maximum he can bet is the amount you have. You can never lose more than you have on the table. So it's really more like table-limit than no-limit. You also can't reach into your pocket if you have another 5 thousand dollars in there and put that on the table if you have a monster hand you'd like to make more money with.

So once all the betting is finished on the flop the dealer peels off another card and lays it face-up. This is the turn. Now you can take any five cards from the six total to use as your hand. Like say in the previous example the flop had been K22 instead of A22 and the turn card is an Ace. Now, once again, you have a full house whereas on the flop you only had two pair, aces and deuces. Then there is another round of betting.

Once that round of betting is over the dealer deals yet another card face up, known as the river card. This is the last card and, like the river card, you can use it to make the best five-card hand possible. Sometimes this will mean not even using the cards in your hand, like say you have a jack and a 10 and the final board is something like 66A99. Now your hand would be two pair, 6s and 9s with an Ace kicker. Your Jack and 10 have been invalidated. After the river is dealt there's a final round of betting and if more than one player is still in the hand both players turn their cards face up and the person with the best hand takes the pot.

Of course any player who does not like their hand is free to fold at any time, so most hands in No-Limit Hold'Em will not go all the way to the end (also known as the showdown).