When the betting comes around to you, and you decide to raise, how much can you raise? Well, this depends on the betting structure used in the game you play. The most common structures are fixed limit, pot limit and no limit.
Fixed limit
In a fixed limit game, the amount you can raise is fixed. If you want to raise, you must raise that particular amount.
- Small bet and big bet
The fixed limit often varies between betting rounds. For example, when playing fixed limit Texas Hold'em, all bets and raises in the first two betting rounds must be in multiples of the big blind. In the last two betting rounds, bets and raises must be in multiples of twice the big blind.
For example, with a big blind of $2, if you want to raise during the first two betting rounds you must raise $2, that is, you must bet $4. If another player wants to re-raise your bet, he too must raise another $2, that is, he must bet $6. However, during the last two betting rounds, if a player has bet the minimum $4 and you want to raise, you must raise $4, that is, you must bet $8. If another player wants to re-raise your bet now, he too must raise $4, which means he must bet $12.
- Capping
When playing with a fixed limit, the number of raises allowed in a betting round is limited to four. That is, the first bet, a raise, a re-raise and than the final raise – the cap.
For example, in a game with a $2 limit, after the maximum four raises, the total bet for each player is $8.
No limit
In a no-limit game, as soon as it is your turn to bet, you can raise as much as you like. You may even bet all your chips at once if you want. Nevertheless, there are a few restrictions.
- Table stakes
Even though you play no limit, you cannot bet more than the amount you have on the table. So players cannot get crazy and bet their farms. And you cannot throw in your car keys.
- The minimum bet
In spite of a game being played as no limit, there is always a downward limit for your bets. For example, if you play with blinds, you can never bet or raise less than the big blind.
- The minimum re-raise
If, in a betting round, a player has raised before you and you want to re-raise, you must raise at least the amount of the last raise.
- Example
Suppose the big blind is $2 and a player to your right bets $10, thereby raising with $8. If you want to re-raise that player, you must raise at least another $8, which means you must bet at least $18. Obviously, since it is no limit, you may also bet more than $18.
Pot limit
Some people may consider fixed limit games a bit lame. On the other hand, some people consider no limit games a bit too far on the wild side. As a sort of compromise, there is a betting structure called pot limit.
Pot limit means that each time the betting comes around to you, you cannot bet more than the amount already in the pot. In early betting rounds, this may be far less than all your chips. In later betting rounds, however, the pot can grow really fast and you can bet all you have, if you like.
Example
If the big blind is $2, the pot is $20, and you are first to bet in that betting round, you may bet anything from $2 (the minimum bet) to $20, the pot limit bet. Sometimes, calculating the maximum bet in pot limit games is quite complicated.
ALL IN AND SIDE POTS
Going All In
Now, you may ask, suppose I hold a really, really strong hand. If someone bets more than I have on the table, and I am not allowed to bet my farm, or throw in my car keys, what can I do? Will I be forced to fold my hand and give up the pot even though I’m probably holding the winning hand? Of course not.
You can always call a bet. Even if an opponent bets more than you have left, you can call that bet by pushing in the remainder of your chips. Thereby you get to show down your monster hand and may win a nice pot. This is called going all in.
However, you cannot win more from your opponent than what corresponds to the chips you bet. If a player bets $100 and you call by betting $40 all in, the other player will get back $60 before the hands are shown down.
Side pots
When more than two players remain in the hand, and a player with fewer chips than the others goes all in, the situation gets a bit complicated. The player with fewer chips is allowed to call, as we saw above, but the other players will continue betting against each other and put more chips into the pot.
The player who is all in cannot win any of the chips that are put into the pot after he went all in. The all-in player is entitled to compete only for the part of the pot corresponding to the amount he put into it. To handle this, the pot is split into a main pot containing the chips that the all-in player will win if he has the best hand, and a side pot made up of the continued betting, that is, the chips that the all-in player cannot win even with the best hand.
If several players with different chip counts go all in during the same hand, there will be several side pots. This gets quite complicated. But don't worry, the poker client takes care of the calculations and sees to it that every player gets the correct share of the pot. You don't need to be the new Einstein to push in all your chips!
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You will find here all the rules of the principal plays of poker with full with councils, a glossary, some basic strategies. Good luck !
