A Betting Round

All poker games are composed of a series of betting rounds, with additional cards being dealt between rounds. The rules of the game determine which player begins the round of betting and the value of minimum and maximum bets. Each time a player acts, the player to their left acts next (as in most games). On their turn, each player may take one of the following actions:

Fold

Folding abandons the player's claim to the pot. They return their cards to the dealer, do not receive any further cards, and are out of play until the next hand.

Bet/Raise

If a player has an excellent hand, they want to make the pot as large as possible. They may raise the current bet, forcing all other players to meet the bet or fold. This is called “betting” if there haven't been any bets yet this round, and “raising” if the player is increasing the bet or raise placed by another player.

Check/Call

If a player has a decent hand, they may want to continue for a chance to win, but pay out as little as possible. In this case, they must match the current bet. If there haven't been any bets yet this round, this is a free action and called “checking”. If there have been bets, this is called “calling”.

Going All-In

If a player does not have enough money for a bet, raise, or call, they can stay in the hand by “going all-in”. They push all of their chips into the pot and do not participate in betting for the remainder of the hand. However, if they have the best hand at the showdown, they can only win as much as they have called. Any further bets go into a separate pot which is awarded to the player with the second-best hand. If the all-in player loses, the player with the best hand takes both pots.

The betting round ends when every player has acted in response to the most recent bet.