Betting structure
The game of Texas Holdem usually begins with forced bets posted by two players sitting to the left of the dealer button. These forced bets are called “the blinds”, or “blind bets”. There are two types of blind bets – the big and the small blind. Another type of forced bets – “the antes” (a kind of forced bets charged from each player at the table) are usually charged in upper stages of the tournaments and can be used in addition to blind bets. Usually, the antes aren’t charged in ring games offered by the majority of online poker rooms. The dealer button moves clockwise after each game indicating a player who represents the dealer’s position and blinds.
Blind bets
In Texas Holdem, the small blind is posted by the first player sitting to the left of the dealer button and the big blind is posted by the second player sitting to the left from the dealer button and is usually equal to the minimum bet. The small blind is equal to half of the big blind. In Texas Holdem tournaments, the value of blinds and antes is periodically increasing. Note that though value of blind bets is usually calculated proceeding from the minimal bet of the table, each online poker room can set up different values of the blinds. Also note that in tournament games, if there are only two players left (frequently referred to as “heads up” or “head-to-head”), the rules change: a player indicated by the dealer button posts the small blind and his opponent posts the big blind. Besides of this, the player indicated by the dealer button acts first preflop and last after the flop.
Limit, no-limit and pot-limit Texas Holdem poker
Besides of classic Texas Holdem, there are three popular variations of the game, played in the majority of online poker rooms. These are limit Texas Holdem, no-limit Texas Holdem and pot-limit Texas Holdem. These branches of the game have slight difference in betting structure and sometimes even in game rules.
In limit Texas Holdem, both bets and raises throughout the first two betting rounds are limited to the size of the big blind and during the third and fourth betting rounds both bets and raises kust be equal to double big blind.
In no-limit Texas Holdem, which is the most popular type of the game within major world poker events including World Series of Poker, the players can bet and raise any amount of chips over the minimum raise and even go all-in (make a bet or raise involving all chips possessed by the player). A player who wants to re-raise must raise at least the amount of chips equal to the previous raise and if a raise or re-raise is “all-in” and isn’t equal to the size of the previous raise, then the initial raiser is unable to re-raise again, which actually matters if somebody called before this re-raise.
In pot-limit Texas Holdem, the maximum raise is limited to the current size of the pot.