The rules most poker games share: the forced bets that start a hand, what you may do on your turn, how big a bet can be, what happens when someone is all in, and who wins at the . The examples use Texas Hold'em, the game most people learn first.
You win the pot, the chips bet during a hand, in one of two ways: everyone else folds, or you hold the best five-card hand when the last bet is called. The order of hands is the same in every standard game, from a royal flush down to high card. The hand rankings list them with the chance of making each one.
Before the cards: the button and the blinds
A white disc called the button marks the dealer's seat. The two players to its left put in forced bets before any cards come: the small blind, usually half a big blind, and the big blind. The blinds give everyone a reason to play, since there is always something to win. Tournaments and some cash games add an , a small amount from every player or from the big blind alone. After each hand the button moves one seat to the left, so everyone pays the blinds in turn.
A six-handed table. The button moves one seat to the left after every hand, and the two blinds move with it. The number on each seat is its turn to act before the flop.
What you can do on your turn
Action goes clockwise, one player at a time. What you may do depends on whether anyone has bet in this round yet.
: pass without betting. Only allowed when nobody has bet in this round.
Bet: put chips in when nobody else has.
: match the current bet.
: match the bet and add more, so everyone else must put in the new amount to stay in.
: give up your cards and any chips you have already put in.
: bet every chip you have in front of you. You can never be forced out of a hand for lack of chips.
One betting round. A bet or a raise reopens the action: everyone after it must call, raise or fold before the round can end.
How much you can bet
The betting structure sets the limits. It is part of a game's name: no-limit Hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, fixed-limit stud.
: any amount up to everything you have. A must add at least as much as the last bet or raise did. Facing a bet of 2, the smallest raise is to 4; if a player bet 4 and another raised to 10, adding 6, the next raise must be to at least 16.
Pot-limit: the most you can raise to is the amount that would be in the pot after you call. Call the bet, count the pot, and raise by that much. The table below works it out.
Fixed-limit: every bet and raise is one set size, the small bet before the flop and on the flop and twice that on the turn and river. Most card rooms allow one bet and three raises in a round.
The largest pot-limit raise, in chips
Pot before the bet
Bet to you
Pot after your call
You can raise to
3
none, so you bet
3
3
3
2
7
9
10
5
20
25
100
50
200
250
100
100
300
400
All in for less, and side pots
A player who goes all in can only win from each other player as much as they put in themselves. Anything more goes into a separate pot, a , which only the players who paid into it can win. Say three players are all in for 50, 200, 200:
The main pot holds 150, and 3 players can win it.
Side pot 1 holds 300, and 2 players can win it.
The best hand among all three takes the main pot. The side pot goes to the better of the two players who put in 200, even if the short stack holds the best hand overall.
The showdown
If more than one player is left after the last round, the hands are shown. The last player to bet or raise on the river shows first; if everyone checked, the first player left of the button does. Each player uses their best five cards, and the cards speak: a hand is read for what it is, whatever its owner calls it. When two hands are the same kind, the next-highest cards decide: a pair of kings with an ace beats a pair of kings with a queen, and that deciding card is the . If all five cards match in rank, the pot is a . Suits never break a tie in standard poker. An odd chip that will not split goes to the first winner left of the button.
Rules that catch new players
Say "raise" before you move chips, or put the whole raise out in one motion. Adding chips a few at a time is a string bet, and the dealer can count it as a call.
One big chip pushed forward without a word is a call, not a raise.
Act only in turn. Folding or betting early gives other players information and can bind you to that action.
Keep your cards on the table. A hand that touches the discards, the muck, is dead.
Table stakes: you can only bet the chips in front of you when the hand starts, never money from your pocket.
House rules differ in detail. Tournaments follow the Poker Tournament Directors Association rules; ask the dealer when a room does something else.
