Betting
 Before
playing a hand, it’s important to make sure you’re comfortable with the
stakes. The stakes are simply the betting increment levels. For
example, a $5/10 table has minimum betting increments of $5 and $10.
Each time you bet, you’re laying down either $5 or $10. All of the
poker tables in the Hollywood Poker Lobby contain information about
stakes, as well as other game details. The manner in which betting
actually happens is game-specific; you can read about the various
betting rules below.
Table Flow
For the new poker player, table flow can be a bit tricky to grasp.
To maintain fairness, the play around the table proceeds in a clockwise
direction. This ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to be
the dealer; this is important, because the last player to act has an
advantage.
In Texas Holdem, there are no antes; instead, antes are replaced by
the small blind and the big blind. The player to the immediate left of
the dealer (the dealer is the player behind the yellow D button on the
table) must pay the small blind; the player immediately to the left of
the small blind pays the big blind. The cost of the big blind is equal
to the low stake amount, and the small blind is half of that amount.
For example, if the stakes are $1/2, the big blind pays $1 and the
small blind pays $0.50. If a player wishes to play in the hand, they
have to match, at least, the cost of the big blind. Simply put, blinds
are a means of forcing action into the game.
Limit
Limit games have fixed betting amounts. For example, a $3/6 limit
game has a small blind of $1.50, a large blind of $3, and the first two
rounds of betting will be in units of $3. In the final two betting
rounds, the bets will be $6.
No-Limit
In no-limit games, the maximum bet players can make is determined by
the number of chips they have. The blinds are a fixed amount, and the
minimum bet at any time is the amount of the big blind. A player may go
"all-in" by putting all their chips into the pot, but that player will
not be able to place further bets. As play continues, other players may
call the all-in player’s amount, or even raise. Either way, play will
continue and the pot will increase until someone wins the hand.
However, if the winner happens to be the player who went all-in, that
player won’t take away the entire pot, but only an amount equal to
their all-in amount multiplied by the number of players who called it.
Whatever’s left in the pot beyond that amount goes into a “side pot”
whose chips go to the player with the next-best hand to the winner.
(For example, let’s say the all-in player puts $1,000 into the pot and
five players call; play will continue. If the all-in player wins the
hand, that player can take only $6,000 from the pot. What’s left over
-- the side pot -- goes to the player with the second-best hand.)
Pot-Limit
This type of Holdem is similar to No-limit, except that the maximum
bet at any time is determined by the number of chips currently in the
pot.
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