Betting

If you want to make some money when playing your friends,

you need to know how to bet.

 

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A picture representing poker chips and their values; white chips are 5 cents, red chips are 10 cents, and green chips are 25 cents.

Blinds

Texas Hold’em does not have an ante, but they do have “blinds” if you want to stay in the game. The person left of the dealer is considered the small blind and the person two left of the dealer is the big blind. The small and big blind values can be decided by the players. For practice, we are going to use five cents as the small blind and ten cents as the big blind. Generally, the big blind is always twice as large as the small blind. The blinds are placed in the “pot” before dealing.

 

Betting After the Personal Cards are Dealt: Fold

The person left of the big blind is the first to act. This person can do one of three things; call, bet, or fold. If you decide that your hand is not worth playing, you should fold. To do this, throw your hand to the side, face down.

 

A picture containing two red and one white chip labeled "Blinds" and two cards lying face down labeled "Folded Cards".

Betting After the Personal Cards are Dealt: Call

If you would like to stay in the game, but you don’t have an exceptional hand, you should call. This means that you are willing to pay the blinds but prefer not to pay any more. So in our example, we will make it ten cents. If you are small blind and want to call the bet, you need to pay only five more cents. If you are the big blind and you are not planning to bet, just say check.

A picture containing one white chip and two red chips labeled "Money in Pot", one red chip labeled "Call", and a King of clubs and ten of spades labeled "Your Hand".

Betting After the Personal Cards are Dealt: Bet

If you have a really exceptional hand, and you would like to attempt to raise the stakes, you can make a bet. To make a bet, you need to first state what you plan to do. Announce that you would like to make a bet, then let them know how much you want to bet over the price of the blinds. (Because we are playing No Limit Texas Hold’em, you can bet any amount) Place the total amount into the pot, or kitty. Anyone who wants to stay in the game needs to fold, call, or raise. (Raising works the same way as betting.)

A picture containing a stack of chips labeled "Blinds", one red chip labeled "Call", three red chips labeled "Bet", and your hand as seen in the previous picture.

 

A picture containing a stack of chips labeled "Money in Pot", three cards face up (A King of spades, seven of diamonds, and a ten of clubs) labeled "Flop", two greed chips labeled "Bet/Raise", and your hand.

Betting After the Flop

After the first set of community cards have been dealt, another round of betting occurs. The person left of the dealer is first to act in this round of dealing. This person can either check, fold, or bet. These options will go around the table in a clockwise fashion. If a bet is placed by someone to the right of you, then you can chose to either fold, call, or raise. When raising, follow the same guidelines as if you were to bet (as stated above).

 

Betting After the Turn

After the fourth community card is dealt the third round of betting will occur. We again start with the person left of the dealer and continue around the table. This person can check, fold, or bet. If any bets are made, you have a choice to either call, fold, or raise.

A picture containing a stack of chips labeled "Money in Pot", the flop from the previous picture, a ten of diamonds face up labeled "Turn", four green chips labeleld "Bet/Raise", and your hand.

 

A picture containing a stack of chips labeled "Money in Pot", the flop, the turn, a Queen of hearts labeled "River", your hand, and three stacks of chips labeled "All In Raise".

Betting After the River

This is the last chance you will have to bet. Your hand is now set and cannot get any better or any worse. You need to decide whether or not you want to check, fold, or bet. Remember that if no one has placed a bet before your turn and you don’t want to bet, just check until someone does place a bet. If no one places any bets, you may get a free chance at the pot.

 

 

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