If you are unfamiliar with the general rules of poker, you have come to the right page. Poker is a game of skill (your abilities), mixed with the element of chance (the shuffled deck of cards). In poker, you strive to get the best five card hand. Our games all present the player with more than five cards. You get to use the five best cards for the situation. Poker hands are ranked based on the statistical odds of getting a specific set of cards. If you are unfamiliar with the rankings of hands, see Hand Rankings.
How Dealing Works | How Betting Works
How Dealing Works
In a casual game of poker among friends, each player takes turns as the dealer; the position of dealer rotating around the table in a clockwise fashion. In a professionally managed card room, the house provides a dealer. In a physical card room there is a person who deals. In a virtual poker room, such as this, there is a virtual dealer.
For some games, position relative to the dealer is not important. For example, in 7 Card Stud, where you are seated relative to the dealer does not have any impact on the game.
For other games, the position is very important. For example in Texas Hold'em, the player to the immediate left of the dealer position and the next player are required to put money, the small blind and big blind, into play. To ensure fairness, the deal rotates clockwise. The image of a small, flat disk with the letter "D" is used to signify the virtual dealer. This is also known as the button.
How Betting Works
We use the standard bet and three raises model. That is, for any betting round, there can be an opening bet and no more than three raises. After the third raise, betting is said to be capped. Unless otherwise stated, we permit check and raise betting. This means player A, is permitted to check or call a prior bet when it is his/her turn. If a subsequent player raises and the betting has not been capped, player A is permitted to raise when the betting returns to him/her.
Exceptions To Betting
All ins
When a player wishes to call a bet or indeed wishes to make a bet but does not have enough funds to do so, the player can remain in the game by going all in (betting all their remaining money). The player will take no further action in the hand but will still be eligible to win the share of the pot up to and including their last contribution. They will not be eligible to win any money staked thereafter which goes into a separate (side) pot and can only be won by those players remaining in the game.
Joining a table
When a player joins a game mid-table, they will be given an option to either play in the next hand or to wait until it is their turn to post the big blind. If the player opts to join the game at any time prior to their turn on the big blind they must post an equivalent amount to the big blind. In these circumstances the player would also be given the option to check so long as a previous raise has not been made.
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