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Buying the chips
First is buying the chips. Each game has a minimum buy-in, meaning the minimum amount of money required in order to participate in a game. You get your chips after giving the dealer your money. It is possible to buy more chips between hands.
Blinds and antes
Every game then starts with blinds or antes. Blind, is a forced bet by one or more players, put in the pot before any card is dealt. An ante is a small portion of a bet given to the pot before any card is dealt. Both of them are done so that the game starts with money on the table building up the thrill and excitement from the very beginning.
Betting
Now the game begins, and after the cards are dealt it is time for betting. A betting round (different kinds of poker have different numbers of betting rounds) starts with a check - bet nothing or a bet from the player first to act. Then, in clockwise order either check or bet as long as no one placed a bet. Once the first bet is placed there are three possibilities:
- Call - match the bet made by the previous player
- Fold - quit the hand, loosing any money already in the pot.
- Raise - adding to the bet made by the previous player
Raising
The amount of the raise depends on the game. In a fixed limit game you can only raise to the amount decided before the game started. In spread limits games you can bet within the limits determined before the game as highest and lowest (i.e. limits were decided to be between 2 and 8 $). In pot limit the bet is limited by the amount of money in the pot. A player needs to call the bet made before him and then raise the amount of the pot (i.e. if 5$ were in the pot and the player before you raised 5, you call that bet, making the pot 15$ and then raise the pot, the pot is now 30$). In no limit you can bet any amount of chips before you at any time.
In order to raise a bet, you simply say, "raise". Then you count out the number of chips. If you prefer to do by action alone, you have to put the exact number of chips you want in the pot at one time.
All-in
What if you don't have enough money to cover the raises and bets? That means you're all-in. When this happens, your competing only for the part of the pot that your money can cover. The rest of the players can still place bets, but they will be in a side pot that you cannot win.
Showdown
Once the betting rounds are over, it is time for showdown. If there is only one player left (all the others folded) then he wins the pot. If there is more then one player they all put their cards on the table, facing up. The dealer reads the hands, determining who the winner is and you then collect your winnings (or unfortunately watch some other player take the pot). |
