Betting & Action

After everyone has taken a turn and has either put in equal money or folded, a "round of betting" is complete.

There are five different possible action options you can have when it is your turn.

Fold - This means you give up your cards and get out of the hand

Check - This means you don't bet or you don't fold. you just stay put and pass your turn

Call - This means you match another player in money in order to stay in the hand

Raise - This means you are betting more money

All-in - This means you are betting all your chips

Deciding what to do

In Poker, you will never have the option to check and to call on the same turn. Either your even with the already bet wagers in which case you can check, or someone has bet more, in which case you can raise. If you have a bad hand it is generally a good idea to check or fold, but you could raise in an attempt to bluff your opponent. If you have a good hand it is common to raise but you could call/check so you portray a weak hand and don't scare anyone out of the pot. Most of the time you will be unsure of how you stand so analyze your postion and go with your gut.

Three major types of betting in games

No Limit: This type of poker means there is no limit to the amount of money you can raise.
Fixed Limit: This type means you have to raise and call in ceartain increments.
Pot Limit: In this Poker Type, no player can raise more than the limit in the pot.

Texas Hold 'em/Omaha

Texas Hold'em is one of the easiest and most famous poker games out there. Omaha is basically the exact same thing as Texas Hold 'em except theres a few more rules and a few more variations of the game.

A Texas Hold'em poker game goes as follows:

Blinds or ante is posted.
Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are called your hole or pocket cards.
Then there is a round of betting starting with the guy to the left of the two who posted the blinds. This round is usually referred to by the term preflop.
The amount a player can bet depends on what kind of game it is.
Much like most games of poker, players can call, raise, or fold.

After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card. This is done to prevent cheating.
The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table. These cards are called the flop. These are communal cards that anyone can use in combination with their two pocket cards to form a poker hand.
There is another round of betting starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
After the betting concludes, the dealer burns another card and flips one more onto the table. This is called the turn card. Players can use this sixth card now to form a five card poker hand.
The player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. In many types of games, this is where the bet size doubles.
Finally, the dealer burns a card and places a final card face up on the table. This is called the river. Players can now use any of the five cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form a five card poker hand.
There is one final round of betting starting with the player to the left of the dealer.
After that, all of the players remaining in the game begin to reveal their hands. This begins with the player to the left of the last player to call. It's called the showdown.
The player who shows the best hand wins. There are cases where players with equal hands share the winnings. In a scenario like this the hand is split equally.
The winner collects his chips and a new hand is started.

Omaha has very similar rules. In fact the game is completely the same except for one fact; Instead of two hole cards you get four. However of these four hole cards you can only and must use exactly 2 of these cards and exactly 3 of the community cards. There is also a different variation of the game called Hi/Lo in which the Highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot. To qualify as a low hand you must have five different cards of seven or below. If there is no low hand then the best hand wins it all. If there is two equal high hands and a low hand it would be divided 25% between high hand players and 50% to the low hand player.

Seven-Card Stud

Seven-card stud is slightly different from Texas Hold 'em because there are no community cards. The rest however follows Texas Hold 'em closely so this version simplified. Heres how to play.

All players put in an ante.
Starting to his/her left, the dealer deals each player two cards down (called hole or pocket cards) and one card face-up.
Everyone looks at their hole cards.
The player with the lowest card showing face-up has to put in a small bet called a "bring in." Then betting continues to that low-card player's left. Each player can call, raise, or fold their cards.
After the betting is completed, another card is dealt to each player face-up. This card is also known as "fourth street" or "the turn."
Another round of betting occurs, starting now with the player with the highest cards showing. From the turn, the player with the highest cards showing will continue to be the first to bet.
After betting is complete, the fifth card (the river or fifth street) is dealth face-up. A round of betting occurs.
Then the sixth card is dealth face up. Another round of betting occurs.
The 7th and final card is dealt face-down to the players remaining in the hand. A final round of betting occurs.
The players show their hands at the showdown. The player who can make the best five-card hand from the seven they were dealt, wins.

Top Of Page