18.2.6.1 Poker Rules
The Structure of a poker hand
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At the beginning of every hand each player is dealt two cards face down,
a betting round follows the dealing. After the betting is completed "The
Flop" is dealt, three cards, face up on the middle of the table. Another
betting round follows the flop, after which a fourth card is dealt face
up: "The Turn". Betting yet again, on the turn, a last card will be
dealt face up: "The River". When the river is dealt, players are allowed
to bet one more time. When two or more players meet each other's bets
the hand enters the "showdown" stage. The player with the best five card
combination out of the seven (five face-up for everyone, two face down
for each player individually) available cards wins the hand.
Blinds and Antes
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Both blinds and Antes are forced bets put in by players before any cards
are dealt. An ante is a small basic bet that anyone that bought into a
poker hand automatically pays before they are dealt any cards. In
Aetolia, a table has two blinds regardless of the amount of players
sitting at the table: the small blind and the big blind. The small blind
puts forward half the amount the big blind does. The blinds rotate from
player to player, moving forward one occupied seat clockwise every hand.
The cost of the blinds and antes differ from table to table, we
accommodate for a friendly game over pocket change and to the "high
rollers" of Aetolia!
Betting, checking, calling, raising, folding
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The betting is done in a specific pattern: in the pre-flop betting
round, the player sitting behind the big blind is the first to act, at
that point, each player has three out of four options are available:
1."Fold" the cards to the dealer, losing only the ante.
2."Call" and meet the bet that's on the table (the big blind)
3."Raise" the bet that's on the table
The minimum to raise to initially is twice the big blind that's already
on the table, in no-limit hold 'em the maximum raise is the entire stack
that you bought in for, including anything you may have won over the
course of the game. The betting comes back around to the small blind and
the big blind respectively who will be the last to act in the first
betting round. After the flop, the Small blind (or the person closest to
him, clockwise, that is still in the hand) will be the first to act.
Allowing for him to
1."Bet", the minimum bet is the size of the big blind
2."Check" to the next player in the hand, to make their move first,
allowing him to later call, fold to, or even raise a bet that another
player has made. In the case where all players at the table check on
the flop, the turn will be dealt for free.
3."Fold" the cards to the dealer, giving up the pot regardless of what
happens next.
All-in
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You're positively sure you have the best possible hand and decide to
shove all the gold you bought in for into the pot. Or you have a really
bad hand, but you're desperate to bluff everyone else out of this pot!
All-in is basically exactly what the term implies, you push all your
gold in.
When you go all-in, you cannot win more per player from the pot than you have put into the pot yourself. For example, if you go all-in with 100 gold, you can only win 100 gold per player in the game from the pot. If there's leftover gold in the pot, the rest will be given to the person with the highest value cards that's eligible for it.
