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All variations of Poker include some form of betting. This means that before a player can show down a hand and win the pot (if holding the best hand), the player must match the bets of the other players. The number of betting rounds in each hand differs between the different poker variations. But regardless of the variation, individual betting rounds follow more or less the same pattern.

A typical betting round

In a typical betting round, there is already a pot of a certain size from earlier betting rounds. The player that should start betting is decided by the rules of the variation being played. The betting turn then moves to the player on the left and so on around the table.

Fold, check, bet or raise

When it is your turn to bet, you have a number of choices. If you do not like your hand, you can always fold – that is, lay down your hand and leave the pot for the other players to contest. If no one has bet before you in this betting round, you may check.

Checking means betting nothing and passing the turn on to the player on your left.

However, if a player before you has bet in this betting round, you cannot check. You can always fold, but if you want to play, you have to either call that bet or raise.

You call by putting in a bet of the same size as the last bet made before you.

You raise by putting in a bigger bet than the last bet before you.

Example

If, for example, a player before you bet $1, you can call by betting $1 or raise by betting more than $1.

Ending the betting

When all players have either folded or put an equal amount of bets into the pot, the betting round is over. Now the next card is dealt. Or, if it was the last betting round, the remaining hands are compared to find out who wins the pot. This is called the showdown.

Winning without showing your hand

If you put in a bet or a raise and all remaining players fold, you win the pot without showing your hand. This is a common event in poker, and it is the reason why it is possible to bluff in poker. You don’t have to show a winning hand to win the pot. Bluffing may not be as common as people think, but is still a typical characteristic of the game of poker.

The First Betting Round

The first betting round is a bit more complicated than the consecutive, typical, betting rounds described above.

Blinds or antes

Before even the cards are dealt, some or all of the players must put in a mandatory bet, either blinds or antes (see below). This is to create an initial pot to compete for. If no player was forced to bet, players could sit around waiting for the very best hands before playing, and it would cost them nothing. Like that, poker could really be like watching paint dry.

When the mandatory bets have been posted and the cards have been dealt, the first betting round starts. It looks a bit different depending on whether antes or blinds are being used as the mandatory bet.

When playing with antes

An ante is a forced bet that all players must put in before the cards are dealt. It is usually about 10% of the small bet.

When the cards have been dealt, the player to start betting is decided by the rules of the specific variant. When the first player has bet, the betting turn moves to the left around the table just like the typical betting round described above.

When playing with blinds

A blind is a forced bet that some but not all of the players have to put in before the cards are dealt. Usually, it is the two players to the left of the dealer who must each put in a blind. Usually, the first player must put in a smaller bet, called the small blind, while the second player must put in a bigger bet, called the big blind.

Blinds, as opposed to antes, are considered as being live. They count as valid bets in the first betting round.

When the cards have been dealt, the first betting round is initiated by the player to the left of the big blind. Since the big blind counts as a bet, this player may not check. He can always fold, but if he wants to play he must call or raise.

To call, he must put in a bet the size of the big blind. To raise, he must put in a bigger bet than this (at least twice the size of the big blind).

Then the betting moves to the left around the table, much like in the typical betting round described above.

Small blind

If you are in the small blind position when the betting comes around to you, you can either fold, call or raise. Since the small blind counts as a bet, it is a bit cheaper for you to call. If, for example, the small blind is $1, to call a bet of $4 you need to put in another $3. Calling means matching the last bet, and since the blinds are live, you can include your small blind when you calculate the amount needed to call.

Big blind

If you are in the big blind position, when the betting comes around to you, you can still fold, call or raise. Since the big blind also counts as a bet, now it is even cheaper for you to call. In order to call a certain bet, you need to put in an amount equal to that bet minus the size of the big blind.

If, for example, the big blind is $2 and a player has bet $4, you call by simply putting in another $2.

Checking in the big blind

If you are in the big blind, the first betting round is a bit special. When the betting turn comes around to you, if no player has raised your big blind, you have the right to either check or bet.

Poker Help Bot

This is a bit different from the typical betting round, and can be a bit confusing for the starting poker player. Not to worry, you will get the hang of it in no time!

Showdown

If more than one player remain in the hand when the last betting round is completed, there is a showdown. This means that the remaining players show their cards to decide who has the best hand.

The showdown starts with the player who was first to put in the last bet. That is, the player who made the bet that the other players called.

Examples

If one player bets $5, another player folds and a third calls the bet, the first player must show his cards first.

If one player bets $10, a second player raises to $20 and the first player calls the raise, it is the second player who must show his cards first, since he was the first player to bet $20.

Pokerstars Helper

Not showing when you lost

In a showdown, when a player before you has shown a hand that beats yours, you do not have to show your hand.

Winning without showing your hand

Poker Helper Software

If you put in a bet or a raise and all remaining players fold, you win the pot without showing your hand. This is a common event in poker, and it is the reason why it is possible to bluff in this game. You don't have to show a winning hand to win the pot. Bluffing may not be as common as people think, but is still typical for the game of poker.

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I was recently told about a hand that illustrates a key mistake that many players make with their draws on a regular basis.

With only 15-big blind effective stacks deep in a tournament, everyone folded around to the Villain in the small blind, who is a young, tight player. He raised to 2.5 big blinds. Our Hero looked down at J 6 in the big blind.

Poker Tips

While J 6 is certainly not a premium hand, due to the ante in play, Hero only has to call 1.5 big blinds more into a pot that will be six big blinds total, meaning he only needs to realize 25% equity, which is not too difficult to do with a suited hand from in position.

In fact, the only time he can justify folding in this situation is if the opponent’s 2.5 big blind raising range is incredibly strong, and even then, calling is not too bad. When you are in position getting amazing pot odds, folding is simply not an option with a hand that has any potential at all. If you fold too often in spots like this, your aggressive opponents will run you over, resulting in you consistently chipping down while they are chipping up.

Hero made the right decision, and called. The flop came A 8 4, giving Hero a flush draw. The Villain made a continuation bet of 2.5 big blinds into the six-big blind pot.

At this point, many players elect to go all-in, but that is a poor decision due to the fact that the opponent’s range should be much stronger than normal, and certainly much stronger than our Hero’s.

Think about it. The opponent raised to a small amount from the small blind, implying he has a premium range that does not mind giving Hero excellent pot odds. How does a premium range connect with an A-X-X flop? It has a lot of top pair combinations.

Poker Help Sheet

Furthermore, even under pairs like pocket queens are not going to fold against a raise. The opponent can remove most aces from Hero’s range because he almost certainly would have pushed all-in preflop with most of them, maximizing his fold equity. So, the opponent has many strong hands in his range, whereas Hero has almost none.

Many players think they should always raise with their draws, because applying aggression gives you two ways to win the pot. You can either make your opponents fold, or if that fails, make your draw. But when your range is crushed by your opponent’s range, you should not raise with anything.

In this situation, Hero is even getting excellent immediate pot odds (he has to put in 2.5 big blinds to win a total of 11 big blinds), making a raise even worse. If the stacks were deeper and the opponent bet larger, raising would become a more viable option because Hero would be getting worse immediate pot odds, and he would likely have more combinations of A-8 or A-4 (two pair) in his range.

When your range is in terrible shape against your opponent’s range, the best play is to call and see what develops on the turn. If you improve to a flush, you can be happy getting your money in. If you improve to a pair and your opponent keeps betting, you cannot fold, again due to your excellent pot odds. If you miss and your opponent bets the turn, you can call a small bet and fold to a large bet. If you miss and your opponent checks, you can turn your hand into a semi-bluff.

Poker Helper

The point is that by calling on the flop, there are lots of reasonable outcomes without risking your stack on the flop against a range that should be quite strong.

Unfortunately, our Hero made the typical amateur mistake of going all-in. The opponent quickly and comfortably called with A-J, putting Hero in bad shape. Luckily, Hero got bailed out when he made his flush on the turn. Hopefully that will not lead to him jamming his draws in similar spots for a long time to come, resulting in him losing equity every time this situation presents itself. ♠

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Jonathan Little is a professional poker player with over $7 million in live tournament earnings, best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out his training site PokerCoaching.com. Click here to try PokerCoaching.com for free.