Community cards can be seen by all poker players and are therefore also sometimes referred to as window cards or shared cards. In community card poker games, each player gets a private incomplete hand that is referred to as hole cards. These hole cards are then combined with the face-up community cards in order for players to form a complete hand. The community card set is also referred to as the board, and can be dealt in a straight forward line or dealt in a certain special pattern. Each game’s predetermined poker rules will decide how these public cards can be combined with the players' private hand. Texas hold ‘em is without a doubt the most popular community card game, and it originated somewhere around the t.

Casinos like to use blinds in community card games whereas it’s typical for home games to prefer to use antes. Fixed limit games are the order of the day at casinos, while home games favor spread limit games. Community card games with no limit and pot limits aren’t that popular. The later stage betting rounds usually have a larger limit than those of the earlier betting rounds. Every betting round starts with the poker player sitting to the dealer's left, which makes community poker card games positional games. The 1st round starts with the poker player just after the big blind when blinds are being used.

Usually community card games don’t do well with low-ball hand values, although some of them play quite well at hi-lo split. This is particularly the case with ace-to-5 low card values, which makes it possible to get both halves of a poker pot. During hi-lo split community card games, there is usually a min qualifying hand for low, usually eight-high.

It’s not unusual for many community cards to be dealt to the poker table, which is then shared by all the participating players. These cards will be subject to type-specific rules on how many cards, and which of these cards can be used in each poker player's hand.

A set of community cards is often referred to as a window or a board, although the ‘window’ term is also sometimes used to describe other poker items. The dealer usually deals the board in a straight forward line, but some games types will require elaborate board layouts. These games will also have special rules with regards to community.

Texas hold 'em, for example, ends with players each holding 2 cards in his or her own hand, as well as a bored of 5 shared community cards. The players then create the best 5-card hand combo. Omaha hold 'em rules, on the other hand, restrict poker players to using precisely 3 of the 5 community poker cards. They then have to combine these three cards with exactly 2 of the 4 private cards.