How the betting is defined for poker games: fixed or variable amount, rules and restrictions…

Betting Structure and Other Restrictions

The amount a player can bet is subject to some restrictions. The main one depends on the betting structure. There are two main families of betting structures: Limit and Pot Limit/No Limit. Pot Limit and No Limit are put in the same family, as they are very similar, compared to Limit.

Limit

In Limit, the amount you can bet is fixed once and for all at the beginning of the game. Consequently, you either bet or raise that amount, or you fold. Depending on the poker variant, the fixed limit often doubles at some point during the hand (e.g. after the second betting round), so that the bets don’t become too small relative to the pot (which contains all the previous bets).

Example:

In Limit poker, there’s most often a maximum number of raises allowed for a single betting round, called the cap, It is often set at three or four raises, though the exact number depends on the house rules. This rule exists so that two players cannot catch a third player by raising and re-raising themselves until the player in the middle got no chips left. As a consequence, this rule is only applicable for pots with three players or more — with two players left, there is no limit on the number of raises.

Important: in Limit poker, the bet amounts is fixed by the structure ; the player cannot decide how much exactly he wants to bet.

Pot Limit and No Limit

In Pot Limit and No Limit, often referred to as "big bet poker", you have the choice in the amount you want to bet; there is no fixed amount. However, there are some other small restrictions:

• you cannot bet under a minimum amount. This amount is most of the time equals to the small blind. We’ll explain what blinds are later on.
• you cannot raise for less than the previous bet or raise. That is, if someone bet $10, you cannot raise to $15; you must at least add the same amount as the previous bet (here $10), and thus raise to at least $20. Another example : if someone bets $10, and someone raises to $30 (thus adding an extra $20), if you want to raise you must at least put an extra $20 yourself, making for a raise to $50 (the $30 to call, plus the $20 minimum raise).
• in Pot Limit, you cannot bet more than the amount of the pot. That is, if the pot is $10, you cannot bet more than $10. In case of a raise, you must include your call in the pot prior to calculating its size. That is, if player A bets $10 into a $10 pot, you firstly add your $10 call into the pot, and the total pot size (here $30) is the maximum amount you can raise. Thus, you can bet $10 (the call) plus $30 (the raise), for a total of $40. This sounds complicated, but hopefully there are shortcuts to calculate this amount: to know how much you can bet, take 3 times the last bet and add what was in the pot before the last bet. If the pot was $3 and someone bet $2, you can bet: 3 x $2 + $3 = $9.
• in No Limit, there is no maximum amount you can bet or raise. You can bet all you have in front of you if you want, each time it’s your turn.

Important: in Pot Limit poker, a player cannot raise more than the amount of the pot. In No Limit, each player can bet whatever he can (above the minimum).

Blinds and Antes

Before the first betting round, and even before the first cards are dealt, the blinds and antes make sure there is already some money in the pot, so that it’s worth fighting for.

Let’s first define the button. It’s a small plastic chip indicating who is supposed to deal. In home games, this player will often do the actual dealing, but in casinos there’s a professional dealer who will take care of it – so even if you have the button, you don’t have to actually deal.

The dealing will start from the first player to the left of the button though, as the player on the button would do if he was actually dealing. Also note that the action and the dealing always move clockwise in poker. The button is moved to the left after each hand (ie. after the someone won the pot), so each player will eventually have the button sometime.

What are the blinds? They are a small, forced bet made before the first betting round by the players to the left of the player having the button. They haven’t seen any card yet, but they must make a bet, the amount of which is fixed by the betting structure. As the button is moved to the left after each hand, all players take turn in paying the blinds.

There are usually two blinds, the small one and the big one. The small blind is paid (we also say posted) by the player to the immediate left of the button. The big blind is posted by the player to the immediate left of the small blinds.

Usually, the small blind is half the value of the big blind, but this is not mandatory; sometimes both blinds are equal, for instance. Sometimes there is only one player posting the blind. It thus depends on what the players agreed on before starting the game, or on what the house rules say for your current table (if you play in a casino). The amount of the blinds is thus an important part of the betting structure.

In Limit poker, this structure is defined by two amounts, e.g. $2-$4. The first amount is the value of a small bet, and the second one is the value of a big bet.

Remember, in Limit poker the value of the fixed bet often increases after some betting rounds. In holdem, for instance, small bets are used during the first two betting rounds, and big bets are used for the two last betting rounds. That is, in a $2-$4 structure, the small bets are worth $2, and consequently only $2 bets and raises are made during the first two betting round. On the last two betting rounds, $4 bets are made. We note that the big bet is often the double of the small bet, but this is not mandatory — hence the need for both values in the structure notation).

Example:

In Pot-Limit and No-Limit poker, the structure notation looks similar but means something different. Indeed, a $2-$4 No-Limit holdem game means that the small blind is $2, and the big blind is $4. As betting amounts are not fixed, there are no small bets and big bets.

Example:

Important: the structure notation means two different things depending on whether the game is played Limit or Pot-Limit / No-Limit.

To make up for these forced bets, the blinds have a small advantage, but only during the first betting round. This advantage is that they have the privilege to decide what they will do after all the other players, because their turn comes last.

Indeed, the first player to play in the first betting round is the one on the left of the big blind — and as action goes clockwise, the big blind will be the last one to make its decision (with the small blind just before him).

The first player to play during the first betting round is said to be under the gun. This is just an expression meaning that he will have to take its decision with no information on his opponents’ possible hands (since he is the first), which is a disadvantage.

The player under the gun will play first in the first betting round, and as the blinds have been posted (which amount to a forced bet), he cannot check; his options are folding, calling the big blind (also called limping), or raising (at least the amount of the big blind, as we saw previously).

If nobody raises the blind (everybody either folds or calls), the small blind can complete his blind, that is, add the difference between the small blind he already paid, and the big blind. Of course, he can also fold, or raise.

As for the big blind, he already made a bet when he posted, but as it was forced he really hasn’t had the opportunity to act (by raising, for instance). Therefore, whatever happens he will have the right to play before the betting round is over. We say that the blinds are live.

If nobody raised, he already put the required amount when he posted his blind, so he can simply check, and then the first betting round is over. He can also raise if he cares to. As already noted, he thus gets the advantage of acting last in this betting round.

To avoid confusion, acting last does not mean that he will necessarily be the last player to act in this betting round; if someone raises after other players called, this will not be the case of course. It means that all his opponents will already have acted when it’s his turn.

Again, the blinds are only posted before the first betting round. In the second betting round, the first player to act is the player on the left of the button and still in the hand. This will be the small blind if he didn’t previously folded, otherwise the big blind, unless he folded too, and so on.

Let’s note that the blinds have a pretty good position in the first betting round, as they can collect some information before acting, but in all the other betting rounds their position will be awful. We will say more on position later on.

Since there are no blinds posted after the first betting round, the first player has the option to check if he wants to, and if he does the next player will also have this option, and so on. If everybody checks, the action proceeds and the next betting round takes place (or players show their hands if this was the last betting round).

Important: blinds are posted once, before the first betting round only. The first player to act is then the one on the left of the big blind. Consequently, the big blind will be the last player to act. If nobody raised, he still has the option to raise, even though he has the required amount in front of him, since he paid the blind. But he can also check, to close this betting round.

Most games are played with blinds, but sometimes antes are added or even used in place of the blinds. Antes are a small amount paid by all players before the first betting round, and before the cards are dealt. This is another way of sweetening the pot. The exact amount is defined by the betting structure, itself defined either by all the players before the game starts, or by the house rules in a casino.

If there are no blinds, the first player to act is the one on the left of the button and still in the hand, for all betting rounds. He also has the option to check in the first round, since there has been no bet yet.

In some variants, stud for instance, the first player to act is determined by the cards dealt. Before the first betting round, the lowest exposed card (ie. dealt face up) must post a fixed amount, called the bring-in. This similar to a small blind, so to speak. In the following betting rounds, the player with the best cards showing will act first (pairs count, but no other combination, since less than five cards are exposed).

Related Items:

• Starting Hands for Limit Holdem