| Game Details |
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Hold'em Poker uses what is called a dealer-button
to indicate the theoretical dealer of each hand. After each
hand is completed, as with standard poker rules, the button
moves clockwise to the next active player. This player will
be considered "the dealer" for that hand.
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| The
First Round: |
| Blinds
- A fresh table starts of with the first person sitting
on the table becoming the dealer and the next player posting
the small blind. A new game on a active table starts
with the button moving clockwise to the next player. The player
next to the button / dealer is required to place the small blind.
The small blind is equal to half the lower stake. This is a
guideline for determining the blinds and not a strict rule.
the small blind may or may not be rounded down to the nearest
dollar.However, as it is just a guideline, the amount of small
blind could be set differently at the time of setting up the
table.
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| The player to the left of the small
blind is required to post the big blind, equal to the
lower stake limit. In a certain scenario it is possible for
more than one player to post a big blind in a hand. This is
if a new player joins a table at which a game is already going
on. The player would get an option of placing a Big Blind at
the start of the next hand or wait for his/her turn (as decided
by the movement of the button) to place the Big Blind in turn.
All the blinds in Hold'em poker are considered live bets and
the players who posted them will have the option of checking,
calling, raising or folding when the betting
returns to their position. |
| The Pre Folp:-
First betting round |
| After the blinds have been placed,
the down cards / hole cards are dealt to each active
player. In Hold'em, 2 cards are dealt to each of the players,
after which the first betting round starts. The player to the
left of the player who placed the big blind starts the betting
for this round. |
| Each player will now have the option
to place his or her bets in the first round, which is set at
the lower limit of the stakes structure. |
| Bets can be placed by playing any
of the following options - Bet, Call and Raise. Each player
will also have the option to Fold. These options are available
to each player depending on the action taken by the previous
player. The first player (left of the Big Blind) to act (in
the first round) would get the Bet, Call and Raise options.
Subsequent players would also get the options of Call and Raise.
To Call is to bet the same as what the previous player has bet.
Raise action calls for raising whatever was the bet/call amount
of the previous player, and can be calculated based on the value
of the previous bet amount. |
| Every player participating in the
hand should place equal amount of bet as the previous players
(includes bets, calls and raises). Till the time all the players
have placed equal amounts in the pot, the betting will continue.
There is a limit on the amount and the number of bets a player
can place during a betting round, which also would be considered
during the hand. The numbers of bets for a particular round
of betting has been mentioned below, please refer to the section
on "Standard Rules" for the limits on the number of
bets.
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| Flop
-After the first round of betting is over, the Flop
(the first three community cards) is dealt.
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| The
Second Round: |
| After the flop and in each subsequent
betting round, the first active player left of the button is
first to act. The second betting round also limits the value
of bets and raises to the lower limit of the stake structure.
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| Bets can be placed, by playing any
of the following options - Bet, Call and Raise. These options
are available to each player depending on the action taken by
the previous player. The first player placing the bet would
get the Bet option (the player left to the Button). Other players
will get the Call and Raise options only.
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| Turn
- After this the fourth community card is dealt out
- this is known as the Turn.
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The Third Round: |
| The third betting round starts again
with the player left to the button, and bets and raises are
limited to the upper limit of the stake structure.. Bets can
be placed by playing any of the following options - Bet, Call
and Raise. Combinations of these options are available to the
player depending on the action taken by the previous player.
The first player placing the bet would get the Bet option (the
player left to the Button).
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| River
- After this the fifth community card is dealt out - this is
known as the River.
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| The
Fourth (Final)Round: |
| The fourth (and final) betting
round starts again with the player left to the button, and bets
and raises are limited to the upper limit of the stake structure.
Bets can be placed by playing any of the following options -
Bet, Call and Raise. Combinations of these options are available
to the player depending on the action taken by the previous
player. The first player placing the bet would get the Bet option
(the player left to the Button).
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Showdown -
After the final round of betting, it's time for - Showdown.
This refers to the action of deciding who the winner of the
pot is and display of the cards from all players (though this
is optional for the player, he/she need not show the cards).
Five cards of the total of hole and community cards are to
be used for deciding on the winning hands. A combination of
the following may be used -
- Both hole cards and three community cards
- One hole card & four community cards
- All five community cards (playing the board)
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| Some
standard rules |
| A maximum of four bets, which includes
one bet, and three raises are allowed for each betting round
per player |
| The term cap is used to describe
the final raise in a round since betting is then capped and
no one can make another raise. Once capped, players will have
the option of calling or folding only. Folding can be done at
any stage of the game. The action of folding basically shows
the player cards being moved to the dealer. The player from
then on would not be considered as part of the game. He/she
would not have any rights over any pots created on the table.
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| Apart from the fold option, a player
could also get the option of "Check", in which
the player can pass his/her turn without placing a bet. This
option would not always be available to the player, and depends
on the actions taken by the previous player in the hand. The
player "Has To" equal the amount of
bet placed by any other players for each round in the hand.
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| Poker is typically played "table
stakes", meaning only the chips in play at the beginning
of each hand may be used throughout the hand. This means that
the player cannot get additional funds from the cashier while
he is in the midst of a game. The table stakes rule has an application
called the "All-In" rule, which states that a player
cannot be forced to forfeit a hand because the player does not
have enough chips to call a bet. |
| A player who does not have enough
chips to call a bet is declared All-In. The player is
eligible for the portion of the pot to the point of his final
wager. All further action involving other players takes place
in a "side pot", which is unavailable to the
player who has already gone All-In. When a player goes All-in,
the pot currently at the center of the table, which has contributions
from him/her as well, is treated as the main pot, over
which the All-in player has rights. After the player goes all-in,
all the new bets are placed in a side pot, over which only the
contributing players have rights. The All-in player does not
have any rights over the side pot. The side pot is then given
to the next winning combination. |
| As this is a multi player game,
the players are expected to play within a set time frame,
the actions during their turn. Generally Player are provide
30 seconds.Initially the player is given 10 seconds, after which
there is a timer countdown, which is displayed on the table
for 20 seconds. The user goes all-in if he has contributed some
money to the pot; otherwise his hand is folded in case he/she
does not respond in time. But if the player is not able to connect
back to the table before the time elapses, then the player goes
All-in. All-in basically means that the player is in the game,
but would not be an active player (placing any bets). Whatever
pot is collected till this time is referred as the main pot,
and the all-in player has rights (if he wins) to this pot only.
After this the money that is bet on the table is added to a
side pot, over which the all-in player does not have any rights
(if he wins). |
| There is a set ranks
of cards, which is used for deciding the winning combination.
To view the various ranks that are possible, |
| If two or more hands are the same
ranking, the winner is the one having the higher cards. For
example, a Flush with an Ace high beats a Flush with a King
high. If the poker hands remain tied, then the highest card
not being held in common (the kicker) determines the winner.
The suit order of the cards is not taken into account while
deciding on the winning cards. Should poker hands be absolutely
identical in ranking, the rule of poker pot distribution will
be split evenly between the two or more winning players. If
there is an odd chip, the winning player to the left of the
button/dealer will receive it. This applies to both play money
and poker for real money. |
| For all the four rounds of betting,
the house based on set rules collects a commission, which is
known as the rake in poker terminology. this may be differnet
for different sites. |
| The game play remains same for both
No-Limit and Pot-Limit Texas Hold’em game with a few exceptions
to the rules mentioned above: |
| In Limit Texas Hold’em a maximum
of four bets is allowed per player during any betting round.
This includes a (1) bet, (2) raise, (3) re-raise, and (4) cap,
but in No-Limit and Pot-Limit there is no limit to the number
of raises that a player can make. The only criteria being that
you cannot raise yourself, (i.e. if a player bets during a betting
round, then that player would have to be raised by another player
in order for him/her to be able to re-raise). If all the other
players in the hand only call or fold, the player would not
get an option to raise, because the last raise was done by him/her.
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Betting Structure for No-Limit Texas Hold’em |
- Minimum raise: The raise amount must be at least
as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round.
As an example, if the first player to act bets 100-value
chip then the second player must raise a minimum of 100
(total bet of 200-value chip).
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- Maximum eligible raise: The size of your stack
(your chips on the table)
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| The
Betting Rules for Pot-Limit Texas Hold’em |
- Minimum eligible raise: The raise amount must be
at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same
round. As an example, if the first player to act bets 100-value
chip then the second player must raise a minimum of 100
(total bet of 200-value chip).
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- Maximum eligible raise: The size of the pot: The
size of the pot is defined as the total of the active Pot
(which can be either the main pot or the side pot depending
on whether anyone has gone “all-in”) plus all bets on the
table plus the amount the active player must first call
before raising.
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