The Games
7-Card Stud
Object: The best five-card poker hand, out of seven cards wins the pot.
Play: Each player receives a total of three cards down and four cards face up with rounds of betting as follows: two down cards and one up card is dealt to each player, followed by a round of betting. Three more up cards are dealt with a round of betting after each card. After the last down card is dealt, there is a final round of betting. Players may check, bet, call, raise or fold. Each round may have a bet and three raises.
Texas Hold 'Em
Object: The best possible five-card poker hand, using any combination of hole cards and community cards, wins the pot.
Play: Each player is dealt two cards face down. Five cards are then dealt face up in the center of the table as "Community Cards" or "Board Cards". All players may use the “Community Cards”. After betting, players may use any combination of their two "hole" cards and the five "community cards" on the table to make the best five card poker hand. Players can even use all of the board cards and no hole cards. This is called "Playing The Board".
Betting Basics: Before any cards are dealt, the first two players clockwise from the dealer button must bet "in the blind". After the first two hole cards are dealt, players may call the blind bet, raise or fold. Players required to bet "in the blind" have an option to raise the blind on the first round of betting. After the first three cards are turned up (the "flop"), each player, starting with the first player clockwise from the dealer button may check, bet, raise, call or fold. Each round of betting may have a bet and three raises, Betting limits usually double after the "fourth street" (the fourth card on the board) is dealt.
Texas Hold 'em
Texas Holdem is a community card game. Every player is dealt two cards face down, and then five community cards are dealt in the middle of the table. The five community cards may be used by every player.
When played in casinos, Texas Holdem is played with a dealer button to mark who the dealer would be if the casino weren't providing one for the table. The button rotates clockwise around the table between every hand. This is important as the "dealer" is the last to act, and thus has the greatest advantage for that hand.
Texas Holdem rules dictate that there be two forced bets every hand, called blinds. There is a small blind, which is 1/2 of the low limit bet size, and a big blind, which is equal to the low limit bet size. Before the hand begins, the player to the immediate left of the dealer button is forced to post the small blind, and the player to the left of that person is forced to post the big blind. These bets count towards that player's first round bet, and are considered live, meaning the player may choose to raise even if nobody else has.
Betting Rounds
There are four rounds of betting. In fixed limit Texas Holdem game, in the first two rounds of betting, all bets must be equal to the size of the low limit bet. In the last two rounds of betting, all bets must be equal to the high limit bet. If, for example, you're playing 1-2 Texas Holdem, all bets in the first two rounds will be in increments of 1 dollar, and all bets in the last two rounds will be in increments of 2 dollars. A maximum of 3 raises are allowed per betting round.
Preflop - The player to the immediate left of the dealer button is forced to post the small blind. The player to the left of him, or two to the left of the dealer button, is forced to post the big blind. Two cards are dealt to every player face down, starting with the small blind. The action begins with the player to the immediate left of the big blind, who must decide to fold, call (by putting in the low limit bet), or raise (by putting in twice the low limit bet). Action proceeds clockwise around the table. The small blind may call (assuming nobody has raised) by adding the other 1/2 of the low limit bet he was already forced to put in. The big blind may simply check (assuming nobody has raised), as he has already put in the full size of the first round bet.
The Flop - Three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table. In this round, and in the following two rounds, the player to the immediate left of the dealer button is the first to act. Play proceeds in a clockwise manner around the table. All bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.
The Turn - A fourth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Play proceeds as in the previous round, except now all bets and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size.
The River - A fifth and final card is dealt face up in the middle of the table. Play proceeds as in the previous round. All bets and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size.
Showdown - Anyone who has not folded after the last round of betting will now have the option of showing their hand and possibly winning the pot. The person who bet last is the first to show their hand, and then it proceeds clockwise from there, with each remaining player either choosing to show their hand, or muck it. Often times a player will muck their hand if they aren't going to win the pot, and don't want their opponents to see what they played.
In the Proposed Card Room, we will use a slight variation on this in our Limit Holdem games. Instead of running a small and big blind, we run one big blind of $2 that is equal to the maximum bet for that round. Each player may then call $2, raise in increments of $2, or fold. Also, the minimum and maximum bet for each betting round (pre-flop, flop, turn, and river) is $2 with a maximum of three raises.
No-Limit Texas Holdem
In No-Limit Texas Holdem, the dealing procedures and combination of hole cards and flop cards are the same. The big difference between Limit and No-Limit is in the betting. In No-Limit, a player may bet or raise any amount up the amount of chips that they have in front of them. In the first round of betting, each player may call the amount of the big blind, raise any amount up to the full amount of their chips (go all-in), or fold. On the flop and each subsequent betting round, each player may check, bet any amount up the full amount of their chips, raise any amount up the full amount of their chips, or fold.
