Poker Rules
The game:
In Hold em poker a dealer button is used to know the theoretical dealer of each hand. Once the hand is completed the button makes a clockwise shift to the next active player. This player is the dealer for the next hand. A fresh set of cards is automatically generated. A deck is primarily a set of 52 cards without the jokers. Online poker games use a Random Number Generator, which shuffle the deck of cards for the hand.
Round One:
Generally the game of poke starts with the first person sitting on the table becoming the dealer. The next player posts a blind. In an active table the game starts with the button moving clockwise to the next player. The next player is required to place a small bid. The small bid is half the lower stake. This is just a benchmark for determining the blinds and not a strict rule. For example - at $5/$10 Hold'em per the formula the small blind should be $2.5. Instead, it is rounded of to the lower dollar, so the small blind would post $2. However, as it is just a guideline, the amount of small blind could be set differently at the time of setting up the table.
Now the player to the left of the small blind is required to post the big blind, equal to the lower stake limit. But sometimes it is possible for more than one player to post a big blind in a hand. This is when a new player joins the table at which a game is already going on. The player would then get the option of placing a big blind at the commencement of the next hand or wait for his turn. All Holdem poker blinds are considered to be live bets and players will have an option of checking, raising or folding when the betting returns to their position.
Once the blinds have been placed, each active player is dealt a hole/down card. In HoldEm,2 cards are dealt to each player, following which the first betting round is started by the player sitting to the left of the player who started the betting round. Once this is done each player will have the option to place his or her bets in the first round, which is set at the lower limit of the stake structure.
For instance in any $10/$20 Hold'em game, the value of each bet is $10 for the first round. When the bets are limited to $10, it refers to: a Bet (that is a single bet) of the value of $10, so when a user places "BET" then it is $10, "RAISE" would be $20 - includes one additional bet and a call on the bet placed previously by a player. Placing of bets can be done by playing any of the following options - Bet, Call and Raise. Every player also has the option to Fold. All these options are available to every player depending on the action taken by the previous player. The first player (whose the left of the Big Blind) to act (in the first round) would get Bet, Call and Raise options. Players after that would also get the options of Call and Raise. To Call means to bet the same as the previous player.
Raise action means raising whatever was the bet/call amount of the previous player, and it can be calculated based on the value of the previous bet amount.
Every player who participates in the hand should place equal amount of bet as the previous players (which includes bets, calls and
raises). Until the time all the players have placed equal amounts in the pot, the betting continues. A limit is set on the amount and the number of bets that a player can place during a betting round, which is also considered during the hand being played. The numbers of bets for a particular round of betting has been mentioned below, please refer to the section on "Standard Rules" for the limits on the number of bets.
After the first round of betting is over, the Flop (the first three cards of the community) is dealt. The community cards are common to all the players participating in the hand.
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