POKER BASICS

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Here's where you can learn how to play, how to bet, and what wins. You can even learn the lingo!

The Games
Order of Bets
Rank of Hands
Glossary


The Games
Poker is a card game where two to ten people sit around a table, deal cards from a deck of 52, and place bets that accumulate into a pot as the game progresses. The best poker hand wins the pot.

Below are detailed rules and descriptions of how to play the three games of poker offered at True Poker. If you'd like an animated tutorial, you can download True Poker -- it's free! Just log on and watch live games. The built-in hints feature will tell you what's happening at each event.

The three games currently offered by True Poker are:

1. Texas Hold'em Poker
2. Omaha Poker
3. Omaha Poker Hi/Low Games
4. Pot Limit
5. No Limit

We offer Pot Limit Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha table games and tournaments. The progressively higher bets make pot limit very exciting and different from a limit game.

General betting rules for Pot Limit Poker
The mechanical difference between regular limit games and Pot limit games are the betting amounts; in Pot-Limit, a player is permitted (assuming he has enough chips in front of him at the start of the hand to do so) to raise any amount within a certain range, up to the pot size at the time it is that player's turn to act. 

Minimum eligible raise: The minimum allowable raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As an example, if the first player to act bets $10 then the second player must raise a minimum of $10 (total bet of $20). 

Maximum eligible raise: The maximum allowable raise is the size of the pot. The size of the pot is defined as the total of the pot in the middle plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active player must first call before raising. Let's consider an example where the blinds are $1-$2. The next player to act can fold, call the $2, or raise by placing any amount between $4 and $7 in the pot. If the player bets $4, he has raised the minimum, because the previous bet was $2, and he is doubling that. If the player bets $7, he is betting the maximum, because he is first calling the $2 blind bet, creating a total pot size of $5, and then raising the size of the pot. The $2 call plus the $5 raise yields the $7 bet. Computing maximum raises can get tricky and we suggest you practice computing maximums before playing (our poker software will calculate the proper raise range allowed and will not allow a player to make a raise too small or too large). 

As you can see, if several players in a row decide to make pot-sized raises, the size of a pot can escalate rather dramatically and we do not recommend Pot limit games for beginners or players not comfortable with large betting amounts.

Our pot limit and no limit tables have a betting "slider" which allows you to bet many amounts between the minimum and maximum bet size. You can customize the location of the "slider" bet feature in the game.

5. No Limit

The rules of No-Limit Holdem are very similar to the rules for Limit Holdem, but again the main difference are the betting amounts permitted.

In No-Limit, any player is allowed to raise any amount he or she has in front of him at any time. If the blinds are $1-$2, and the first player to act has $200 in front of him, and wants to put all $200 in (a raise of $198), he is entitled to do so.

Minimum eligible raise: The minimum size of raises that are allowed must always be at least the size of the previous bet or raise. As an example, in a game with $5-$10 blinds, the first player into the pot could not bet a total of $15, because that would only be a raise of $5. The minimum bet in this situation would be a bet of $20, which is a raise of $10. 

In the more likely case that the first raiser makes a somewhat larger bet, for example, a bet of $40 (which would be a raise of $30), the next player could fold, call the $40, or raise. If he raises, he would have to place at least $70 in the pot, because his raise would have to be at least as much as the previous raise. The only upper limit on the size of his raise is the number of chips he has in front of him when the hand begins.

Maximum eligible raise: The total amount of chips you have at the table!
All games are table stakes.

Players may not buy additional chips in the middle of a hand, but can always (unless they exceed their daily, weekly, or monthly limit) decide to buy more chips in between hands.

If a player bets more chips than you have in front of you, you are not forced out of the hand. You are allowed to call for whatever number of chips you have. If no one else is in the pot, the bettor simply takes back his excess chips, and the hand is played to conclusion without any additional betting. If there are other players remaining in the pot, it is possible that a side pot may be created.

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Order of Bets

First to Act
Each round of betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer button (the small blind) and proceeds around the table in a clockwise fashion, ending with the player at the dealer button. (One exception to this is the opening round of betting, which begins with the player to the left of the big blind.) At each turn, a player chooses between the following options: check, call, bet, raise (if a bet has already been made), or fold.

Check
If no one has bet previously in the round, a player may simply "check," which means he does not wish to bet or fold. Instead of betting, he wishes to let his turn pass without adding any bets to the pot.

Call
If a bet has already been made in the round, a player can no longer check. He now must either call the amount previously bet, raise, or fold. If he calls, he is matching the previous bet. If he does not wish to match the bet, he must fold.

Fold
If a bet has been made previously in the round, and the player does not wish to at least match the bet to stay in the hand, he must fold. To fold means to withdraw from the remainder of the hand and forfeit all amounts invested in the pot up to that time.

Bet or Raise
If a player wishes to increase the amount of the pot, he bets or raises. The first time the pot is raised in a given round, it is called a bet. The second time, it is called a raise, and all subsequent times are called re-raises. The amount that a player can bet, raise or re-raise is determined by the game limits. For example, in a 10-20 limit poker game, players can bet or raise $10 in the first two rounds of betting and can bet or raise $20 in the last two rounds of betting. The maximum number of times a pot can be raised in a given round of betting is three. This means that up to, but not more than, four bets (including the initial bet) can be made in a given round.

Sit out
Sitting out is the act of choosing not to participate in a hand of poker while remaining seated at the table. Players who sit out and miss the blinds, must post both blinds to rejoin the game. Players missing two rounds of the blind (two circuits of the Dealer button) are removed from the table to free their seat for other players.

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Rank of Hands

From strongest to weakest hand.

Royal Flush
Straight flush to the ace.

Straight Flush
Straight with all five cards the same suit.

Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same value.

Full House
Three cards of one value together with two cards of another value. When more than one full house is competing, the one with the highest ranking group of three wins.

Flush
Five cards of the same suit. When more than one flush is competing, the one with the highest card wins.

Straight
Five cards in sequence (e.g. 9,10, J, Q, K). When more than one straight is competing, the one with the highest card wins. An ace can be taken as either high or low (but not both high and low in the same hand).

Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same value.

Two Pair
Any two cards of one value together with two cards of another value. When more than one hand has two pairs of the same rank, the hand with the highest card outside the paired cards wins. This also applies to hands of one pair.

One Pair
Two cards of the same value.

Highest Card
When players have none of the above, the hand with the highest card wins.

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Glossary

All In
A player who runs out of chips during the course of a hand is said to be "all-in." He may be entitled only to win that portion of the pot which existed at the time he went all-in (see also Main Pot and Side Pots).

Betting Limits
The amount a player may bet or raise on any turn is set by the betting limits of the game. For example, a 3-6 table requires bets or raises to be $3 for the first two rounds of betting, and $6 for the last two rounds of betting. Likewise, a 4-8 table requires bets or raises to be $4 and $8 for the first two and last two rounds respectively.

Betting Round
One round of betting. There are four betting rounds in a given hand: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after the river.

Big Blind
The big blind is made by the player immediately to the left of the small blind, and is equal to the minimum bet. For example, the big blind in a $.25/$.50 is $.25 and in a $3/$6 game it is $3.

Small Blind
The small blind is made by the player immediately to the left of the dealer button and is equal to half of the minimum bet, rounded down to the nearest dollar. For example, the small blind in a $.25/$.50 game is $.12 , and in a $3/$6 game, $1.

Micro Games
These are games in which the limit is lower than $1.

Blinds
The blinds are required bets made by the two people to the left of the dealer button before any cards are dealt, and serve to get money into the pot initially.

Burn Cards
In a live game, the dealer is required to deal one card off the top of the deck face down into the muck immediately prior to dealing the flop, the turn card, and the river card. These are called "burn cards."

Buy-in
When a player first sits down at the table and buys chips, it is called a "buy-in". The minimum buy-in for True Poker is 10 times the small bet or small blind in Pot/No limit. For example, in a 3-6 game, the minimum buy-in is $30. After a player has bought his initial chips and wishes to buy more, he can then purchase any quantity of chips provided it is $10 or greater. However if a player goes all-in and runs out of chips, they must purchase a full minimum buy-in amount.

Call
Once a bet has been made in a given round, if a player matches the bet (i.e. does not raise or fold), it is a "call."

Check
If there has not been a bet made in a given hand, a player can "check," which means he is not betting and is letting his turn pass without increasing the amount in the pot.

Chips
Circular color-coded discs used for betting, chips are available in denominations of $1, $3, $5, $25, $100, $500.

Fold
If a player elects to fold, he withdraws from the hand and forfeits all bets he has placed up to that point in the hand. Typically a player will fold when he does not want to call a bet in order to stay in the hand.

Hand
One complete game beginning with the posting of the blinds and concluding with one or more players winning the pot.

Main Pot and Side Pots
If a player runs out of chips in the course of a hand, (i.e. he goes "all-in") the pot is split into a "main pot", which is the pot that existed up to the point any players went all in, and a "side pot", which is that portion of the pot to which the all-in player does not participate, and cannot win.

Muck Cards
All discarded cards lying face down in front of the dealer, consisting of all folded cards and all "burn cards."

Pot
The total number of chips that are bet in a given round and any prior rounds. Once betting in a round is complete, the total chips bet are moved into a pile near the center of the table.

Raise
Once a bet has been made in a given round, any subsequent increases to the amount bet is called a raise. If the bet is increased after it has been raised, this is called a re-raise.

Rake
The house charges a commission -- the "rake" -- as a percentage of the total pot won at the end of most hands. This represents the only source of revenue for the house, since all winnings go to the players. The rake amount is never more than $3 and is determined by the number of players at the table, and the amount in the total pot. For more information on the rake amounts, please visit About Money.

Small Blind
The small blind is made by the player immediately to the left of the dealer button and is equal to half of the minimum bet, rounded down to the nearest dollar. For example, the small blind in a 3-6 game is $1, and in a 4-8 game, $2.

Split Pot
If two or more players have the same hand at the showdown, the pot is split equally between them. If the pot cannot be split equally, the odd dollar is paid to the player next in line for the Blinds.

Table Stakes
A convention of poker, followed in most card rooms including True Poker, which dictates that a player can only play with those chips he has at the beginning of the hand. In other words, a player is not allowed to buy more chips during the course of a hand nor may they remove chips from the table during or between hands, unless they exit the game. (A player similarly may not exit and quickly return with out less chips.)

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