In poker, the betting system determines how to bet chips and advance in the game. The betting alternate with forced bets such as blinds – the exact nature of these bets depending on the played variant.
Terms
In this article, we will use the terms:
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Game to designate a stage of a poker game, from the distribution of cards to the abandonment of the penultimate player or until the showdown of players who have not lying;
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Round which means a round of betting in a stage (starting with the first player bids and ends once matched bets);
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Pot which means all bets already made by players and placed in the center of the table;
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Stack that means the amounts that each player can bet. Stack is also a term that a player can use in a round (see below).
Option of players during a round of betting
Players bets in turn in the direction of clockwise from the dealer except in the first round where players who paid the small and big blinds are bidding last (and except for the studs and where the player with the highest displayed strong hand is starting) and choose one of four options: to call, raise, fold or, conditionally, to check.
Call
Call allows the player to stay in the game and play up to the previous bet that is necessarily the most important that has been made. If the called bet is more important than his stack, a player can still call saying “all in“, it can then claim to play and win bets only up to the amount of his stack.
Raise
A player “raise” when he put more than the last and largest bet made previously. He then said, “I raise (amount of his raise),” relaunching being the difference from the previous bet. Custom is that the player who raises deposited at first the complement to the previous bet before announcing his raise. For obvious technical reasons, this custom is usually not included in the Internet poker games. Raise rules are determined by the type of betting played: the limit mode, the pot limit mode, the mode no limit and, more rarely, half-way pot limit.
Fold
One player says he “fold,” or “pass” when he abandons the game. His cards are then placed in the center of the table face down; it will then no longer bet or recover chips that he then committed or win the pot at the end of the game.
Check
Check means that the player does not raise and does not fold. This implies that it remains in the game and can hope to win the pot. This scenario is possible only on condition that no one has raised before him in turn. In short, the first player to be able to do it in the first round is the one who made the big blind and, during the possible subsequent rounds, the first remaining player left of the dealer.
Note that a player who raises after a “check” of other player obliges the latter to fold, call or to raise in turn.
Counting facility
When players are bidding, it is customary that everyone keeps before him prominently and well separated from his stack all of his bets for the round. This to make it easier for other players to determine the amount of the bets.
On a poker table, a carpet materialize the playing area to clearly separate the chips possessed by one player from those he bet on the turn.
At the end of a round, all bets are put together is in the center of the table in the pot.
End of a betting round
A betting round ends:
- when all players who did not fold and do not bet all their chips (so those who can still speak) have spoken and bid the same amount, whether null or not; or
- when all players but one have folded.
End of the betting rounds
According to the variant of poker, betting rounds end after a specific number of rounds have been played. The players remained in play then pass to the showdown phase.
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