rules
A betting round is one lap of the table.
Nobody puts money in whenever they feel like it. The action moves clockwise, one player at a time, and the round is finished when everyone still in the hand has put in the same amount or has thrown their cards away. Raise, and the lap starts again behind you. That one sentence covers most of what people mean when they ask how poker betting works.
the five things you can do
| Action | Available when | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Check | There is no bet in front of you | You pass the action on without putting anything in, and stay in the hand. |
| Bet | There is no bet in front of you | You are the first to put money in this round. Everyone after you now has to answer it. |
| Call | There is a bet in front of you | You match the amount and stay in the hand. The action moves on. |
| Raise | There is a bet in front of you | You match it and add more. Everyone who already put money in has to decide again. |
| Fold | Always | You give up the hand. What you already put in stays in the pot. |
Check and bet are the same slot from two sides, and so are call and raise. That is why you can never check when there is a bet in front of you, and never call when there is not. Everything else about the hand, the cards, the board and the showdown, is in the Texas Hold'em rules, walked through one hand at a time.
four rounds, and who starts each one
| Round | Cards dealt | First to act | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preflop | Two private cards each | The player left of the big blind | The big blind acts last and may raise even if everyone only called. |
| Flop | Three shared cards | The first player left of the button still in the hand | From here on checking is possible, because nobody has been forced to bet. |
| Turn | A fourth shared card | The first player left of the button still in the hand | In a fixed limit game the bet size doubles here. |
| River | A fifth shared card | The first player left of the button still in the hand | After this round the remaining players show their cards. |
Preflop is the odd one out. The blinds are already in, so there is a bet to answer before anyone has seen a card, and the big blind gets to act again at the end even if everyone merely called. From the flop onwards the button is always last, which is the whole reason the button moves one seat every hand. Other games count differently: Omaha has the same four rounds, while seven card stud has five and five card draw has two.
how small a raise is allowed to be
At least as much as the last one.
A raise has to increase the bet by at least the size of the previous increase. With blinds of 1 and 2, a first raise to 6 is an increase of 4 over the big blind. The next player who wants to raise has to add at least that same 4 on top, so the smallest legal raise is 10, not 7. Make it 10 and the increase is 4 again, so the one after that also has to add at least 4.
Without that rule you could raise by one chip at a time and keep a round open for as long as you had chips left. It exists to stop the action being used as a delaying device, not to protect anyone's hand.
The exception is the player who cannot make a full raise because he has run out. He may still put everything in, and the bet stands, but in most rooms it does not reopen the betting for players who have already acted. They may call the extra or fold, and are not allowed to raise again. That is one of two things that go wrong most often when someone is all in; the other is the side pot that appears when stacks are unequal.
how high a bet is allowed to be
No limit
Any amount up to your whole stack
The bet has a floor and no ceiling: at least the big blind, at most everything in front of you. This is what almost every Hold'em game runs, online and live.
Pot limit
At most the size of the pot
The maximum is the pot, and when you raise your own call counts towards it first. Usual in Omaha, which is why you see it written as PLO.
Fixed limit
One fixed amount per round
Bets and raises come in set steps, small on the first two rounds and double on the last two, usually capped at one bet and three raises per round. The old structure of stud and draw games.
Pot limit is the one worth doing on paper once. The maximum raise is the pot as it would stand after you call, so with 100 in the middle and a bet of 100 in front of you, you first call the 100, which makes the pot 300, and then you may raise 300 on top, for 400 in total. Before the flop the same sum gives a smaller number than people expect: in a game of 1 and 2 the pot is 3, calling the 2 makes it 5, so the first raise is capped at 7. The structure and the reason it suits Omaha, where every player holds four cards are the same argument.
Whatever the ceiling is, it can never be higher than what you have on the table. That is what table stakes means, and it is one of the four things that hold in every poker variant.
two rules about how you bet
Say the amount before your hands move, and the amount is binding. Reach for chips more than once without saying anything and it is a string bet, which is not allowed: the first movement would let you read the reaction before deciding on the size. One motion or one sentence, either is fine.
Act in turn. Folding out of order tells the players behind you something they had not paid for, which can change the whole round even when you had nothing. The rest of what is expected of you at a table, and what to do when something goes wrong, is on the page about table etiquette.
next
Turn order is the one rule you learn by sitting down.
Reading who acts when is slower than doing it once. Play a session in the browser and the order stops being a table you look up. Forty hands, no account, no download, and a hand history you keep at the end.
betting questions
How many betting rounds are there in poker?
Four in Texas Hold'em and Omaha: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn and after the river. Seven card stud has five, one on each street from third to seventh. Five card draw has two, one before the draw and one after it.
When does a betting round end?
When every player still in the hand has put in the same amount, or has folded. If nobody bets, the round ends once the action has gone all the way around and everyone has checked. A raise restarts the round for everyone behind the raiser.
What is the minimum raise?
At least as much as the last bet or raise. With blinds of 1 and 2, a raise to 6 is an increase of 4 over the big blind, so the next raise has to be at least 4 more, which makes it 10. The maximum depends on the structure of the game.
Can you raise your own bet?
No. If the action comes back to you and nobody has raised since, there is nothing to answer, so the round is over. You can only raise after someone else has bet or raised.
What happens if someone goes all in for less than a full raise?
The bet stands and has to be called, but in most rooms it does not reopen the betting for players who have already acted. They may call the difference or fold, and are not allowed to raise again. Players who had not yet acted keep all their options.
What is a string bet?
Reaching for chips more than once to complete one bet, without announcing the amount first. It is not allowed, because the first movement lets you read the reaction before you decide on the size. Say the number out loud and the amount is binding, whatever your hands do afterwards.
Back to all poker rules.