What are table stakes?
- In cards, you can only bet as many chips as you have in your stack at the beginning of the hand. So, if you start the hand with $8 in chips, that's all you can bet during the course of that hand. It's a bad time to flop a royal flush when you only have a few dollars on the table.
Tell me how split pots work
- When a player uses all of their chips during the course of a hand, they are all-in. The rules say that in every pot, all the players must be "invested equally". So, the dealer takes that pot, and places it on the side. The all-in player can win that pot at the end of the hand.
The other players can continue to play in the hand. Their bets go into a second pot. The all-in player cannot win that pot because he hasn't contributed equally to it.
Different players can win different pots in the same hand.
Can you use all the board cards to make a hand?
- Yes. It is known as "playing the board".
Why did I have to pay to get into the game at the casino?
- When introducing new players to the table, these are the procedures I've seen in place at many casinos:
A player cannot begin play on the small blind, or as the dealer. They must sit out until the dealer button has passed them. They can then be dealt in by posting a bet equal to the big blind.
A player can be dealt in immediately by posting a bet equal to the big blind.
A player can decide to wait until it is their turn as the big blind. At that time, they post the blind, and begin play as normal.
I was playing $2/$4 at Harrah's AC, and the guy before me threw in a $5 chip. I thought he raised, so I folded. Then the dealer said he didn't raise. What gives?
- In a live game setting, if a player doesn't have any chips small enough to post the bet, they may toss in one chip of the lowest denomination they have to "call" the bet. If they intend to raise, they must declare a raise verbally in that situation.
In that case, it would have been best if the dealer said that the previous player had merely called. It only takes a second to say, "that's a call".
What is the big deal about going "Heads Up"?
When there are only two players left in the hand, the situation is called Heads Up play. In some card rooms, the betting cap is removed when play is heads up. So, these two players can choose to raise and re-raise each other until their hearts are content.
It is not a standard practice, but it's not terribly uncommon either.
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