Introduction to Poker
Learn:Poker Rules
Poker Strategy
Criss Cross
Draw Poker
Five Card Stud
High-Low Poker
Jacks Back
Find Out About: Poker Odds
Omaha Poker
Poker Dice
Put and Take
Stud Poker
Three Card Poker


Are you new to online auction scene? Not sure where to start? Need help deciding which auction site is for you? then this is the Auction Help Site for you.
eBay FAQ
eBay Fraud
Bidding Tips
Auction Forum

Poker Rules

RULES OF BETTING. Betting is done during periods of the game called betting intervals. The number of betting intervals depends on what form of the game is being played; for example, in Draw Poker the first betting interval occurs when each player has been dealt his full five cards, and in Stud Poker it occurs when each player has been dealt two cards.

In each betting interval, some player has the first right or duty to bet Usually there is some minimum and some maximum amount, agreed upon in advance, that he may bet. The proper way is for him to place in the pot the number of chips he bets and at the same time announce the number of chips he is betting. When the designated player has bet, each player in turn after him must do one of the following three things:

1. Drop out of thepot (also known as passing), which
means that he discards his hand and may no longer win the
pot, A player may thus drop at any time, and when he drops
all chips he may have put into the pot previously are for-
felted to the pot and will eventually go to the winner of it

2. Call, which means that he puts in exactly enough chips
to make his total contribution to the pot precisely the same
as the greatest number of chips put into the pot by any other
player. This is also known as staying in.

3. Raise, which means that in addition to enough chips to
call he puts in an added amount and now has put in more
chips than any other player. The excess is the amount by
which he raises, and every other player must either put in as
many chips as he, or must drop and forfeit the pot.

For example, a player opens the pot by betting three chips. The next player may call by putting in three chips; he may raise by putting in more than three chips. If he puts in four chips, he has raised one chip; if he puts in six chips, he has raised three chips, and so on. He may not raise by more chips than the limit established for the game. If the second player does raise three chips, and all the other players drop, the player who opened niay stay in by putting three more chips hi the pot, for then he vdll have put in precisely as many chips as the second player*

Beting of this nature continues until all the bete are equalized. The bete are equalized when the turn comes around to the player who in his turn made a higher bet thaa anyone previous to him, and when every intervening player has either exactly called that bet or dropped.

In many forms of Poker, a player is permitted to check if no player before him has opened. Originally this meant that he made the: minimum bet, a chip of such low value that it was hardly worthwhile putting it hi the pot. So when a player checks, it means he has made "a bet of nothing" and each player in turn after him may also check—in effect calling the bet until any player makes a genuine bet. Thereafter, each player inturn must call, raise, or drop.

For example, assume a seven-hand game and call the players '*A,'' *B>" "£/' "D," "E," "F," and "G." "G" is the r^ sc> "A" is the eldest hand. Following the deal, "A" and "B" check. "C" opens for five chips (that is, he bets five chips). "D" raises five chips (that is, he puts in ten chips, five to call and five to raise). "E" drops. "F" stays in, putting in ten chips to call. "G" raises ten chips, meaning that he puts in twenty chips hi all. "A," who checked on the first round, now has tiie right to enter the betting; but he drops. "B," who has the same right, puts in twenty chips and calls. "C" calls, putting in fifteen chips (since he put in five chips previously, these fifteen make his total contribution twenty chips, the greatest amount put in by any other player). "D" raises ten more chips, putting in twenty; now he has put in thirty chips altogether. "B," who dropped previously, has no option; once a player drops, he is inactive from that tune on. "F," who put in ten chips before, could call by putting in twenty more; but instead he drops, forfeiting the ten chips he put in before. "G" puts in ten chips, making his own total contribution thirty chips, and thus calling the bet. "B" and "C" each put in ten chips, and as in the case of "G" this makes their total contribution the same as any previous player's and means that they both call the previous bet.

Now, of the seven players, three have dropped and the other four have each put hi thirty chips, and the turn has come around to "D" again. The bets have been equalized, and "D" may not bet again. This "betting interval" is ended.

Any player who drops out becomes inactive; from that time on, the rum to act still passes in rotation from one player to the other, but only from active player to active player.

LIMITS, Most Poker games are played with a limit of anywhere from five to ten chips. Other popular forms of determining a limit are:

Pot Limit. The player making the first bet in any betting interval may bet as many chips as there are in the pot at the time. Any player after him in the same betting interval may raise by as many chips as there are in the pot after he calls. That is, he may announce his intention to raise by "the size of the pot"; then put in enough chips to call the previous bet; then count the pot and match it for a raise.

When playing with a pot limit, some maximum should nevertheless be set for the highest possible bet or raise. Otherwise, in a seven-hand game, this might happen: The antes make 7 chips. The opener opens for 7. The next player puts hi 7 to call; now there are 21 chips in the pot, and he raises 21. The third player must put in 28 chips to call, and may now raise 70 chips. This means that the fourth player would haw to put up 98 chips merely to call, and could then, if he wished, raise 238.

Table Stakes. A more popular way of playing \wth a vari-able limit is to let each player's Hmit be the number of chips he has at liie time. For example, players "A,'* "B," and "C" are eompeting for the pot; "A" has a stack of 160 chips, "B" has 110 chips, "C" has only 40. 'XT can call any bet made by "A*' or "B" for his 40 chips; "B" can call any bet made by "A" for his 110 chips. "A" therefore has 50 chips which he cannot use in this pot.

Suppose "B" bets 70 chips. "C" calls it for 40, that being his limit. "A" calls the entire bet, but does not raise. In the showdown the highest hand takes the main pot, but the side pot—the extra 30 chips each put up by "B" and "A"—go to whichever of them has the higher hand.

When playing with table stakes, no one may add to the chips he has on the table after the deal begins, but between deals he may add as much as he wishes. No one may reduce the number of chips he has on the table until he leaves the game, unless the banker's supply of chips is exhausted and he must buy chips to supply other players.

ARRANGING THE GAME, (more poker rules)In addition to the table and chairs necessary to seat all the players comfortably (specially butlt Poker tables are circular, usually felt-covered, and have pits for holding die players' chips), and at least one pack of playing cards, the only essential equipment for the game is a set of poker chips. The poker chips should be in at least three colors: white, red and blue. There should be enough of these eMps for every player to have an ample supply.

One member of the game is selected as the banker. He may be me host or a player chosen by lot. At the start, all the chips are the banker's property. He sells or issues them to the players, the same initial amount to each player, and keeps a record of the number of chips each player has taken. The white chip is always the basic unit; each red chip is worth five whites, and each blue is worth ten whites; When in the course of a game a player runs out of chips, he should replenish his supply by purchasing an additional "stack" from the banker; he should not borrow or buy fr6m other players. Each stack purchased should be precisely of the same amount as the original issue. If the banker's supply needs replenishment, he should redeem one or more stacks from players Who by their winnings have an excess. At the start of the game, any player picks up the cards, shuffles them, and deals them out face up to the players, one by one, in rotation, until any player gets a jack. That player is the first dealer.

Except that the banker is given first choice of seats, usually no one in a Poker game cares where he sits. Each takes tiie seat nearest him. If there is any disagreement in the poker rules, the banker shuffles a pack and deals one card to each player, face up; of these cards, the highest-rankhig sits at the dealer's left, next-highest at his left, and so on. In the course of a game a player may demand a reseating at any time, except that there may not be more than one reseating per hour.

Irregularities in Poker
Shuffle, Cut. Any player may shuffle, but the dealer has the right to do so last The cards must be shuffled at least three times. The dealer must offer the cards to the player at his right and that player must cut them. No fewer than five nor more than forty-seven cards may be lifted off the pack in cutting.

NEW DEAL. Any player who has not intentionally looked at the face of his first card and who has not received his second card may call for a new deal if the rules of the shuffle and cut were not fully observed. It is a misdeal, the dealer loses his deal and the next player in turn deals, if, at any time before the pot is gathered in, the pack is proved to be incorrect (to have the wrong number of cards, or a duplication of cards); or if more than one card is improperly exposed in dealing and if the misdeal is demanded by a player who receives such an improperly exposed card and who has not intentionally looked at the face of any other card dealt to him; or if more than two players receive an incorrect number of cards.

INCORRECT HAND. If two players have incorrect hands, one having a card too many and another having a card too few, the dealer may correct it by drawing from the hand with too many cards and giving the excess to the hand with too few. If only one player has an incorrect number of cards, and announces the fact before he looks at any of them, the dealer must correct bis hand by drawing the excess from a hand with too many cards and restoring it to the top of the pack; or by supplying a short hand with a card or cards from the top of the pack.

However, a player who has too many cards and has intentionally looked at any of them has a dead hand and must drop out. The player who has too few cards and has intentionally looked at any of them may play on, but must play throughout with a short hand and cannot make a straight, flush, or straight flush.

CARD EXPOSED IN DEALING. Cards exposed prior to .the.,
betting interval are dealt with under the paragraph "New
Deal" above.

In Draw Poker, if a card is exposed in the draw, the player due to receive it must take the first such card but may not take any subsequent exposed card. Such cards exposed in the draw are placed with the discards. The draw is continued until all other players are satisfied. The player whose cards were exposed may then receive cards from the top of the pack to satisfy his requirements; or may require that the remainder of the pack, together with all discards except his own(and the discards of the of the opener, if they have been kept separate) be Shuffled by the dealer, and cut by him, before the remainder of his draw is dealt to him. .- . In Stud Poker, if the dealer prematurely exposes a card to be dealt for the next round of dealing, that card is placed with the discards. Other players may receive the cards they would have received if no irregularity had occurred, provided this is possible. The players who would have received the cards exposed then receive their cards from the top of the pack.

PLAYER DEALT OUT. If the leader omits a player in dealing, he must give his own hand to that player. If he omits more than one player in dealing, his own hand (if any) goes to the player omitted nearest his, left, and no other player has any recourse.

If the dealer improperly gives a player a card face up instead of face down, that player has no immediate recourse but the dealer must give him his next card face down. This remedy may continue without penalty on the part of the dealer, unless it is repeated, until and including the player?s fourth face-up card. At that point the player may, if he wishes, withdraw from the pot all chips he has put in and the dealer must pay a penalty to the pot equivalent to the number of chips withdrawn^ If the player chooses to play with all his cards face upy and to withdraw no chips from the pot, the dealer is not subject to penalty.

BET OUT OF TURN. No chips once placed in the pot may be removed from the pot except as provided in the preceding paragraph. If a player bets out of turn, his bet is void, his chips remain in the pot, and the player in proper turn may act When the offender's turn comes, he may use the chips he put in to call the preceding bet, if they are sufficient to that purpose; and he may add to them sufficient chips to call the preceding bet, if necessary; but he may not raise, even if his out-of-turn contribution to the pot was more than is required to call.

DROPPING OUT OF TURN. A player may drop without waiting for his turn if there is only one other player in the pot If there is any other player in the pot, and he drops out of turn, when his turn comes he must call any bet made by any player before Mm, but his hand is dead and cannot win the pot.

INCORRECT NUMBER OF CARDS; If a player has too many or too few cards and the error is not corrected as provided above: a player with too few cards may compete for the pot, but cannot make a straight, flush or straight flush; a hand
with too many cards is dead and cannot win the pot.

INCORRECT ANNOUNCEMENT. A player who announces a bet and does not put in enough chips to conform to the announcement must on demand supply enough chips to call, if so many chips were not previously put into the pot; and may not raise, and if he put into the pot enough chips to raise but not enough to conform to his announcement he is deemed to have called and any additional chips are forfeited,

INCORRECT DRAW. A player who is given by dealer the wrong number of cards (any number of cards not conforming to his discards) and who looks at any of them cannot have his draw corrected. If the result gives him too few cards, he may play on. If the result gives him too many cards, his hand is dead. If he has not looked at any of the cards, he may demand a correction by the dealer.

DRAW OUT OF TURN. A player may not draw if he has permitted a player to his left to draw out of turn. He may stand pat on the cards originally dealt to him, unless he has discarded. If he has discarded, his hand is dead.

ERROR IN OPENING. The opener is permitted to split his openers (for example, to discard a queen from Q-Q-J-10-9 and draw one card to a straight) without announcing the fact. He may place his discard in the pot so that it cannot be shuffled up with other discards and so that he can reclaim it to prove that he had openers.

If the opener cannot prove to the satisfaction of other players that he held openers, his hand is dead and cannot win the pot. Any chips he has placed in the pot are forfeited. If no one has called his bet, the antes plus his opening bet remain in the pot for the next deal. If his bet has been called, his own hand is dead but play continues.

The opener's hand is dead if he has more than five cards, and the penalty is the same as though he lacked openers. If no one calls bis bet, he need show only enough cards face up to prove he had openers, and the remainder of his hand face down to prove that he had no more man five cards.

Ethics and Etiquette
Bach group of Poker players is likely to set its own standards of ethical behavior, and a stranger in the game is well advised to learn what these standards are, so he will not be thought unsporting. Old-fashioned Poker players feel that so long as a player does not actually cheat, he should not be bound by any code of ethics. Most players feel, however, that there is a limit beyond which one should not venture in misrepresenting his hand.

One may misrepresent one's hand in a bantering way, as by saying, "Go ahead and call me; you know I'm always bluffing," or words to that effect, when in fact one has a good hand.

It is not unethical to bet on a sure thing, nor is it unethical to check with a strong handi intending to raise if anyone else bets.

One should not intentionally break the rules of the game, even when willing to pay the penalty.

Partoerships are contrary to the spirit of the game, and even when husband and wife are in the same game they should treat each other as opponents in the play.

It is not unethical to draw one card to four of a kind, even though the draw cannot improve the hand. (And if a player is lucky enough to hold four of a kind, what does he care what the ethics are?)