Beginners guide to Poker Betting

 

By gopoker.com, May 13, 2010

 

New to poker and thinking one player is partly blind (small blind) and another completely blind (big blind) and where other players are referring to a call, don't worry nobody is blind and there is no phone call waiting. This easy beginners guide will help you get up to speed and into the action.

 

In brief there is three areas one need to understand in order to get into the game... How the betting starts, what are the options in a game and what kind of betting structures are there and how do they work.

 

 

Getting the Betting round Started... Antes and Blinds

Before a hand is even dealt players put money in the pot, this is done in order to get the pot started, and where each player having something at stake in the game, before the first card is dealt.

 

There are two different ways in how this is done, dependent on the game it is either referred to as Ante(s) or Blind(s).

 

Antes

In games using ante, each player contributes a certain predetermined amount to the pot before each hand. It is usually a small bet, for instance in a nickel and dime game (small limits) it might be a nickel. The important thing about antes however is to remember that a player's ante doesn’t count as a bet, as it is just a way of getting the pot started.

 

Blinds

The other way to start the action is by making players put in a forced bet before the deal, called a blind. It's called a blind because you haven't seen any card when you put the bet in, you're going in without seeing (blind).

 

The most common way is that the two players to the left of the dealer (button) pays the blinds. The player immediately to the dealer’s left places a smaller bet called the “small blind” and where the player two places to the left puts in the “big blind.”

 

The amounts of the blinds are fixed and determined before the game begins. Usually the “big blind” is equal to the smallest bet possible, while the small blind is commonly half the big blind. Hence if the minimum bet is $4, the big blind would be $4 and the small blind $2.

 

The difference between blinds and antes is that blinds do count as a player’s first bet. This means in the first round of betting, no player can check, every player has to bet.

 

 

What are my Betting Options... Check, Call and Raise

You’re the first to act in a game with antes, hence there are two things you can do, either you check (pass the bet onto the next player) or you bet (put money into the pot).

 

If placing a bet, then the next player (the one sitting to your left) can do three things, either the player can call and see your bet, which means the player matches it exactly, or the player can raise the bet, or given it's hand decides to fold it.

 

This then continues from player to player going around to the left. If someone raises a bet you made, when it comes back to you, you then have the same options as everyone else, i.e. call, raise, or fold. The round of betting is over when everyone simply calls the last bet and all the players (who haven’t folded) have put in the same amount of money into the pot. A round of betting can also be “checked around”, meaning everyone checks and there’s no money put in the pot that round.

 

 

What is Betting Structures... Fixed Limit, Spread Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit

There’s no one rule of how to set up the betting in all games of poker. Depending on whether you’re playing in a casino or in a home game, you may encounter one of these four common structures.

 

Fixed Limit

This is what most people play in casinos. Simply, with fixed limit poker, the amount you can bet or raise is fixed for each round of betting. If you’re playing a $2-$4 fixed limit game, every player can only bet or raise $2 for the first few rounds (usually the first two) of betting, and can only bet or raise $4 for the last rounds of betting. It keeps it nice and simple.

 

Spread Limit

In a spread-limit game (commonly found in home games), a player can bet any amount within some range, for instance $1-$5. Basically, it means the minimum any player can bet is $1, and the most anyone can bet or raise at one time is $5. The only other rule regards raising. If someone raises, you can only raise that much or higher. In other words, if the player to your left raises four dollars, you can’t raise just the $2 you were planning to, you’ve got to raise $4 or more.

 

Pot Limit

In pot limit games, the largest amount you can bet or raise is the amount that’s in the pot at that very moment. While at first pot limit seems simple, it's actually probably the betting structure that confuses players the most, and can get pretty expensive, that is if players keep doubling the pot.

 

No Limit

If you’ve watched Texas Hold’em tournaments on television, you’ve seen the world of no limit. It’s just what it sounds like, hence at any point, you can push all the chips you have in front of you as a bet. There’s absolutely no cap on how much money that is, other than it’s what you have on the table.