Betting, Round 1

After players have posted blinds or anted, two cards are dealt to every player. At this point, the first round of betting begins.

At the start of a betting round, before anybody has placed a bet on the table you have several options:

Your first option is to Check. Checking is essentially another way of saying "I'm not going to bet anything yet," but it sounds classier.

The second option is to place a bet by clicking on one of the Bet buttons. You will have the option of placing a small, medium, or large bet, although the exact amount changes from room to room. In a Low Rollers room, for example, you can bet $1, $2, or $4. In a High Rollers room, you can bet $100, $200, or $400, and "all-in bets".

Your third option is to Fold. Folding basically means you're giving up and are sitting out the rest of the hand. The bright side to folding is that you don't have to contribute any more to the pot. The drawback is that you don't get back any money you've already contributed to the pot (such as the ante and any previous bets). At the beginning of the hand, if you still have the opportunity to check, it makes much more sense to check instead of folding.

Once a bet has been placed on the table, all other players must contribute that same amount (or more) to the pot. At this point, your options are slightly different...

Your first option is to Call. This is saying, "I am contributing the amount of money needed so that my bet is the same as what other people have bet." The button will be labeled, for example, "Call 20" to let you know that by calling, you are placing 20 tokens into the pot.

Your second option is to Raise. Raising is saying, "I am calling, then I am also increasing the bet amount by placing more money into the pot." You will have the option of raising a small, medium, or large amount. Once you have raised, all other players at the table will need to call again to match the amount that you've placed into the pot.

Your third option is to Fold. Like before, this means you don't want to bet any more and are sitting out the rest of the hand. Just remember: you don't get back any money you've already placed into the pot.

If, like most Texas Hold'em Players, you play with Blinds instead of Antes, the game will treat the first two players as if they had already bet small amounts. Which means that at the beginning of Betting Round 1, you'll probably have to Call, Raise, or Fold.

For a round of betting to be over, all players must have either folded, or contributed the same amount of money to the pot. This is accomplished by everybody calling after the last bet or raise.

In every table, there is a maximum amount that the bet can reach. If you find that some of the Raise buttons are gone, it is because those raises would put the bet amount over the maximum.