Betting

Betting in poker takes place in rounds, starting before any cards are dealt, and then continuing after each round is dealt.

Antes and Blinds

Before any cards are dealt, there must be some money in the pot. Depending on the game, the pot is filled through either an ante or a blind.

Ante: A contribution to the pot that all players are required to make before play begins. Antes are used in most stud and draw games.
Blind: A mandatory bet, used in most community games, that the two players next to the dealer must make before the cards are dealt. The person to the left of the dealer must put in the small blind, and the next person must put in the big blind (twice the amount of the small blind). After the cards are dealt, all other players must bet at least the amount of the big blind to stay in the hand (including the person who put in the small blind).

Betting Order

Each poker game follows a specific betting order, though not all games use the same ordering rules. The two most common ways to determine betting order are:

Starting with the dealer’s left: The first person to bet is to the dealer’s left. Betting then continues in a clockwise circle until it gets back to the dealer.
Highest showing hand bets first: In games with face-up cards, sometimes the first to bet is the person with the highest card(s) showing.

If you're unsure of the betting order in the specific game you’re playing, ask the dealer.

When It’s Your Turn to Bet

You have up to five options to choose from in each round of betting: check, fold, bet, call, or raise.

Check: If you’re the first to bet in a round, no player before you has bet, and there is no minimum required bet, you can check, which means you neither bet nor fold. Even if your cards are weak, you should check rather than fold whenever you can. It’s possible that everyone else will also check, which means you’ll get to see another card without having to bet. If someone else bets, then you can fold without losing anything. To check, either say “check” or just tap the table.
Fold: If the betting seems too high for the quality of cards you have in your hand, you should fold, or surrender, your hand and wait for better cards in the next hand. To fold, place your cards face down on the table and push them toward the dealer.
Bet: If you believe your cards are strong enough to keep playing, then you should bet. If you’re first to bet, you can choose how much you want to put in the pot, though some games have restrictions on minimum and maximum bets. To bet, simply say the amount you’re betting. If other players have already bet, then you have two betting options.
- Call: Calling means you bet the same amount as the previous player. If other players have already bet, you must, at minimum, call in order to stay in the hand. To call, say “call” and put the appropriate chips in front of you.
- Raise: Raising means you bet more than the previous player. When you raise, you can say either how much you’re raising above the previous bet (“I raise $5”) or the entire amount you are raising the total to (“I raise to $15”), then put all the necessary chips in front of you at once.

Rules for Betting and Raising

Rules guiding the amount you can bet or raise at one time vary considerably among poker games and venues, so it’s a good idea to ask the dealer or host about the rules before the game begins. Typical betting rules are:

Minimum bet or raise: When you bet in the first round, you typically must bet at least the amount of the ante or big blind. If you bet more than that amount, it usually must be at least twice the ante or big blind. For instance, if the big blind is $5, you can bet $5, $10, $11, or any other amount over $10—but not $7.
Maximum bet: Certain games of poker, called limit poker games, place a maximum on how much you can raise at one time.
Re-raising: The rules for betting and raising apply in the same fashion if you’re raising a previous player’s raise, which is called re-raising.
Number of re-raises per betting round: There is typically a limit on the total number of raises per round—a common limit is three.

End of a Betting Round

A betting round comes to an end once all of the players have either folded or called the highest raise (or if the game has a re-raising limit). At that point, the dealer says “the pot is good” and brings everyone’s chips to the middle of the table. If there are more cards to be dealt, the dealer then deals them and another round of betting begins.

If two or more players are still in the betting at the end of the last betting round, the players show their hands in the following order, to determine who wins:

The first person to bet, or the person who raised most recently, shows her hand.
Continuing in clockwise order from that person, each player either shows his hand (if it beats or ties the first person’s hand) or mucks—slides his cards to the dealer without showing them.

The person with the best hand according to the rules of the game (see Hands and Hand Rankings) wins the pot.

Poker Betting Etiquette

When playing poker, it’s important to place your bet in the right way. Besides making you look like an amateur, betting incorrectly can interrupt the flow of the game and annoy the other players. To bet correctly:

Place your chips in front of you: When you bet, put your chips in front of you, rather than in the middle of the table. This allows everyone to keep track of how much each player has bet.
Avoid string bets: Never place a bet by sliding your chips forward in two or more groups of chips without first announcing the amount of the call, bet, or raise. This is called a string bet. String betting annoys other players because they assume you’re trying to evaluate their reaction to a “fake” bet before putting in your real bet. Either announce your bet before moving in your chips, or move your chips in all at once.