Do you have to use both hole cards in Texas Hold'em?
No. You make the best five-card hand from any combination of your two hole cards and the five community cards, including using none of your own. If the board is the best hand available, every remaining player has it and the pot is split.
This is the single most common rules misunderstanding at home games, and it usually surfaces on a board that has made a straight or a flush without anybody's help.
It is also what makes kickers matter. If the board pairs at the top and two players both have trips from it, the hand is decided by the highest fifth card either of them can contribute — which may be one hole card, or neither.
Omaha is different and is where the confusion comes from: there you must use exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three from the board. The rule people half-remember is the Omaha rule applied to Hold'em.
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