Poker Betting Rules

While playing online poker, players get involved in betting rounds where they place their chips into the pot. Understanding the poker betting rules for the poker variation you are playing is crucial to understanding how to bet in a poker game. Generally, a player bets during a poker hand to either make a profit, to bluff, or to semi-bluff.

Most poker variations follow the same poker rules for betting, betting structure and table positions. Poker games such as Texas Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and other limit poker games involve dealer button, small blind, big blind, and their related table positions. For instance, the big blind is seated at the left of the small blind and the small blind is seated at the left of the dealer button.

New to poker? Learn these poker betting basics to create your betting strategy for different poker types.

Poker Rules for Betting

In poker games, before the dealer deals a hand to the players, the players have to put money in the pot. Each player then has something at stake before the dealer deals the first card. The initial bet is made through blinds which are forced bets where the player to the left of the dealer places a small blind, and the next player places a big blind, after which the betting round begins. Let's understand all the rules of online poker betting here:

Poker Betting Order

In poker games that use the 'Blinds' system, the first betting round starts with the Small Blind, followed by the Big Blind, and then the other players in a clockwise direction.

Some poker games also follow a system of bring-in and antes, which are forced bets that every player is required to place on the table. According to the bring-in system, the player with the weakest face-up card is required to act first, followed by other players in a clockwise direction.

How to Bet in Poker - Poker Betting Actions

As per the poker betting basics, the active players in all online poker games can choose from mainly four betting actions during their turn - call, raise, fold, and check. However, the players also have two additional betting actions they can use while betting. The seven betting actions players can use in a poker game are as below:

Bet

When the first round begins, the first betting action made by a player is called a Bet. If other players don't place a bet, you can make your bet.

Call

Call refers to matching the amount of the previous bet or raise in the betting round.

Raise

When a player makes a bigger bet than the highest bet in a betting round, it is called raise. A raise forces other players to bet more money in the pot. Also, if a player raises after the previous player has already raised, it is called a re-raise.

Fold

Leaving the pot by pushing the cards at the centre of the table is called fold. If a player thinks their hand is too weak to compete against other players, that player can choose to fold anytime during the betting rounds. If a player folds, they also give up their claim in the pot.

Check

When a player passes the action to the next player without placing a bet, it is known as check. A player can check only when no other player has placed a bet or raised previously.

All-In

Putting the entire chip stack into the pot is called going all-in. All-in is one of the poker betting strategies where players put their remaining chips into the pit and can't make any other betting action.

Check-Raise

In this poker betting strategy, the players pass their betting action to the next player and then raise in the same betting round after the next player makes their bet.

Poker Betting Limits

There are mainly three types of betting limits in poker - No Limit, Pot Limit, and Fixed Limit or Limit. The betting structure for limits in poker betting basics are similar for most online poker games.

No-Limit Betting Rules

As per the poker betting rules, there are no limits in no-limit games. Therefore, the players can place any amount of bet during the betting rounds. the poker rules for betting allow multiple-betting actions such as all-in.

Pot-Limit Betting Rules

The pot-limit betting structure is a popular poker betting strategy in real money online poker games. In a pot-limit game, the players can choose poker betting actions such as bet or raise for an amount within the pot-limit.

Fixed Limit Betting Rules

Games like 3-card poker use poker betting rules strategy that places a fixed-limit on the betting. In a fixed-limit poker game, player can use betting actions such as bet, raise, or call with fixed amounts for betting limits.

Forced Bets

Blinds

Texas Hold'em poker betting rules and Omaha poker betting rules include the bring-in system or antes as an important part. As per the poker betting basics, the bring-in system means that the player with the weakest hand or weakest face-up card begins the betting action, followed by other players in a clockwise direction. The big blinds and small blinds work as forced bets in Omaha poker, Texas hold'em, and 3-card poker.

Antes

As per the poker betting basics, antes are a common part of blinds-centric games. Antes are generally used as a small forced bet in online poker that go in either from every player or only from the big blind player.

No-Limit vs Pot-Limit vs Fixed Limit

The world's most popular poker game, Texas Holdem, uses a no-limit betting structure, which allows players to bet all their chips at any time. However, not all poker variants use no-limit poker betting rules. For instance, PLO or Pot-Limit Omaha, which is the world's second-most popular game, uses pot betting limits. Other games like Limit Hold'em, 7-Card Stud Poker, and Razz poker use the limit betting structure.

All three betting structures require different betting strategies, making it crucial to know which betting structure is being followed before sitting to play the game. Here's the difference between each betting structure in poker:

No-Limit Betting Rules

In no-limit games, players are allowed to bet all their poker chips at any time. For instance, in a no-limit texas holdem game being played at $1/$2 stakes, the small blind places a $1 bet and the big blind places a $2 bet. The player at the immediate left of the big blind can choose to bet any amount in the preflop betting round. They can even go all-in and bet $200 with all their chips.

Pot-Limit Betting Rules

Unlike the no-limit betting rules, a pot-limit game sets a limit on the maximum raise to be equal to the size of the pot. Betting the pot implies placing a bet that is equal to the size of the pot in addition to any outstanding bets and the amount one has already put in to call the last outstanding bet.

If you are the first player to act postflop, your bet is equal to the amount already in the pot. For instance, if there is $100 in the pot, your bet will be $100 if you are the first to act on the flop.

If the next player to act wishes to raise the maximum, they have to add the amount of the pot before your bet, which is $100, plus your bet of $100 and the amount to call your bet, which is $100. Therefore, the total amount is $300, which is the maximum raise that player can bet on top of your bet.

Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) is the most popular poker variant played with pot-limit betting rules.

Limit Betting Rules

Poker variants such as Stud Poker and Limit Texas Holdem use the limit betting structure for poker betting rules. Limit games involve a small bet and a big bet where the big bet is usually equal to the small bet. Many limit-betting games also use a betting structure where the maximum raise in the early betting rounds is equal to the small bet, and in the later betting rounds, it increases to the big bet amount. However, the betting is capped after three raises in each round, and the subsequent players have the option to only call after that.

Poker Chips/Buy-ins

In the poker cash games, the players buy-in using cash and are given an equivalent amount of poker chips. Poker chips work as currency in poker games and carry a cash value. However, the tournament chips have no cash value. In a poker tournament, the buy-ins allot a predetermined number of tournament chips, and when a player collects all the chips in the game, the tournament ends.

Main Pot and Side Pots

Before a hand begins, all the blinds and antes go onto the main pot. Thereafter, every time a player bets, their chips are added to the pot and the pot size increases.

The main pot size increases only when the active player still has chips to add to the pot. However, when three or more players are active in a hand, and at least one player goes all-in, then the remaining players compete for the side pot. If an all-in player can't add chips in the side pit, they can't win that pit even with the best hand at the showdown. In this case, the player with the best hand among the remaining players wins the side pot.

Hole Cards and Community Cards

Image: Use the below screenshot of a poker game from MPL. Write Community Cards and mark an arrow towards the cards at the centre of the table. Write Hole Cards and mark an arrow towards AK (Ram's Cards).

Hole cards and community cards are other important elements of a poker game. The poker players are dealt hole cards and community cards, and the objective is to make the best five-card poker hand combination using these cards.

Hole cards are dealt face-down to each player and remain concealed throughout the hand. Only the player holding the hole cards can view them. The only time hole cards can be exposed is at the showdown when the players have to turn their cards face-up to reveal the best poker hand.

The community cards are dealt face-up on the table and are shared by all the players.