Florida Poker Tours - Texas Hold'em Pot Limit

The Basics of

Poker

Texas Hold'em is a community card poker game with four betting rounds.
Each player is privately dealt an incomplete hand, these pocket cards are placed face down.
Then community cards are cards dealt face up to the center of the table, these are shared by all players.
In total there are seven cards.

First off each player receives their personal two down cards, this is followed by a round of betting. Then three community cards are placed simultaneously on the board, again there is a round of betting. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card.
Now the seven cards are out and four rounds of betting has occurred.
The best five card poker hand - constructed by any mix of the seven cards - wins the pot.
Highest hand wins
Players may use one, both or neither of their hole cards to make their highest hand
Ace plays both high and low for straights
Cards speak

Cards dealt to each player - 2 concealed
Community cards dealt - 5
Number of betting rounds - 4
Limits - Fixed Limit / Pot Limit / No Limit
Blinds or Antes - Blinds or Both

The Table Layout

Texas Hold'em is played on a table with 2 to 10 players. Sometimes you may see 11 players squeezed in on one table in the early rounds of a tournament but the normal maximum is 10 players. The left of where the dealer sits is ALWAYS seat number ONE. When the game first starts everyone draws one card and highest draw has a 'dealer' button placed in front of him.

Notice that the positions are labeled but not the 'seat numbers'. Your seat number NEVER changes unless you move, but your position changes after every move of the button

The Dealer

A person does the physical dealing of the cards and is not one of the players. On the table is a small round disc called the button. This button is placed in front of the person who is the theoretical "dealer" to indicate where the dealing should begin.
The button will say 'D' on it as shown in picture below.

After every hand, the button moves clockwise as if each player at the table were getting a turn to deal.

The Blinds

Always moving clockwise, the player to the immediate left of the dealer (left of the dealer button) is called the small blind. This player places 1/2 of the structured bet in front of him or her. To the small blind's left is the big blind. This player places one full structured bet in front of him or her.

In our example of No Limit Texas Hold'em, the small blind will post 5. That is 1/2 of the structured bet. The big blind will post 10. That 10 will constitute one full bet.

The small and big blinds are compulsory bets. These two players are in actuality betting their first bet "in the blind." The motive for forcing these players to bet in the blind is to create action. Creating action gets money in the pot. This way no one can play for free (without folding) during the first round of betting.

When the next new hand is played the small blind then moves around to the player who was the big blind in the last hand, and the big blind moves to the player to his left. This movement of the small and big blinds continues throughout the game.

poker rules: By definition, Pot Limit means the limit you may bet is the size of the already existent pot.
A raise can include the size of the pot after the call is made.
Pot limit is probably the most interesting form of Texas Hold'em poker. This is because the strategy for pot limit Texas Hold'em is so different from the other forms.
Players need to keep a much closer eye on the pot size so they can know how much to bet. The game also requires better timing, as raising anytime is not a wise option. It is very important to know when to raise, or more importantly, reraise. Reraising is much more vital part of pot limit hold'em, as initial raises can't get too large thanks to the pot limit rules. It is the act of reraising that puts the pressure on opponents and makes hands too expensive to play.
In its own way, pot limit hold'em is the most artistic form of Texas Hold'em, and high stakes games require their players to have even more nerve.
High stakes pot limit hold'em games can be much more challenging than either fixed limit or no limit high stakes games. This is because you can't stick to the tight solid play that is essential to fixed limit Hold'em, and you have to work to apply pressure more than in no limit Hold'em, where if you want to apply pressure, you can just raise your whole stack, even if that isn't the smartest of plays. High stakes pot limit games require more finesse and deliberation than any other type of Hold'em.

Minimum raise: The raise amount must be at least as much as the previous bet or raise in the same round. As an example, if the first player to act bets $5 then the second player must raise a minimum of $5 (total bet of $10).

Maximum raise: The size of the poker pot, which is defined as the total of the active pot plus all bets on the table plus the amount the active player must first call before raising.

The Pocket or Hole Cards

Pot Limit Texas Hold'em uses all 52 cards in the deck. The dealer begins the deal with the small blind. There will be 2 unique cards called Pocket or Hole cards dealt face down to each player. The hole or pocket cards are exclusive to each player. Each player will view these cards and no other player will see the other players 2 cards.

Betting Round 1 Pre-Flop

After the pocket or hole cards are dealt, the first round of betting begins. There are several actions a player who is involved in the hand can take.

The player may CALL the bet by matching the amount last bet.

The player may RAISE the bet by matching the amount of the last bet and adding an amount up to the new size of the pot including his call.

The player may FOLD. When a player folds, the action taken is one of passing and the player does not wish to enter the hand by placing any money in the pot

The first person to start the betting in the first round of Pot Limit Texas Hold'em is the player to the left of the big blind. As stated before, the big blind has already made one complete bet. The first round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot or folded.

The betting will continue until everyone in the pot has bet the same amount. That means that whenever there is a raise all the players still in the pot must call it, raise it or fold their hand. For example, if seat 5 raises then all the players behind him that want to stay in the pot will have to call the new amount or fold or re-raise.

In our example:
Seat 3 calls the 10 (the big blinds amount) and raises 25 (the total of the pot).
The pot now has a total of the two blinds (15) the call of 10 and the raise of 25 making the pot 50.

The next player, seat 4 could call the bet of 10 plus the 25 raise from the previous player making it a total call of 35.
This would give him the option to raise from 35 (the total amount of the previous bet) or the amount of the pot, which would be 85.
Player 4 chooses to fold.

Player 5 also folds.

The player in seat 6 calls the raise of 35

Seat 7 folds.

Seat 8 calls 35 making the pot a total of 120.

The players in seats 9, 10, 1 (little blind) and 2 (big blind) fold.

As you can see, the pot may grow very rapidly as the deal progresses.

The first round of betting is now complete.

Betting Round 2 The Flop

To begin the second round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and then place three cards in the middle of the table.

These 3 cards are known as the flop. These are the first 3 of 5 community cards (cards accessible to all players to use with their hole cards) to be dealt face up in the middle of the table. These 3 cards may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their own hand to form the best possible hand.

The second round of betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer (the person with button.) This player may CHECK, which is deferring the first action to the next player or choose to bet.

It is of interest to note that after the flop, the players have seen 71% of all cards to be used.

Just as in the first round of betting, the first player to the left of the dealer may bet the minimum of 10 (amount of original big blind) all the way to the amount in the pot. The next player, seat 3, is ready to act. Seat 3 may bet the 10 (the big blind,) no less, or any amount up to the size of the pot.

The pot is now 120 and the player in seat 3 elects to bet the 120. The total amount in the pot now is 240.

Seat 6 folds. Seat 8 calls the 120 and raises 360 making the pot now a grand total of 720. The 3 seat decides to call the 360 raise. The pot is now 1080.

The second round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot, checked or folded.

Betting Round 3 The Turn

To begin the third round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and place a 4th card in the middle of the table next to the flop.

This card is known as the turn or 4th street.

This round of betting will begin again with the player to the left of the dealer. Just as with the flop, the turn card may be used by all the players in the game by combining them with the two unique cards held in their own hand, to make the best hand out of 5 cards only.

In our example, seat 3 checks, and seat 8 checks.

The third round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted. They will all have either, checked, placed the same amount in the pot, or folded.

Betting Round 4 The River

To begin the fourth round of betting the dealer will burn the top card by placing it in the discard pile (without showing it) and place a 5th card in the middle of the table next to the flop and turn card.

This card is known as the river or 5th street.

This round of betting will begin again with the player to the left of the dealer.

In our example, player 3 checks, and player 8 bets 500.
Player 3 calls the 500 and raises the pot, which is now 2080. The pot is now 4160.
Player 8 calls the $2080. There is now 6240 in the pot.

The fourth and final round of betting is complete after every player at the table has acted and placed the same amount in the pot, checked or folded.

The Showdown

Players who have not folded show their hands. The first person left in the hand to reveal his or her cards will be the one that made the last bet during the 4th round of the hand. If no bet was made and all the players checked, then, in order from the left of the dealer to the last player will show his or her hand.

When a player has a better hand, it must be revealed in order to win. If the player elects to throw the cards away because of it being of less value than any other revealed hand, he or she may muck the cards (place the cards where they will be discarded.)

When a player is sure that he or she is beaten, he or she may or may not elect to show his or her hand (because it gives information about what hand he or she held.) The dealer will identify who has the best hand and the pot will be given to this player.

Because the hand went to a showdown, the winning player has the right to request to see the losing hand even if the losing player mucks his hand.

Using the community cards (which remain on the table) and their pocket cards, each player announces their best possible hand (see Poker Hand Rankings for additional information).
A player may use 5 of the 7 cards to make the best hand possible.
It may be the 2 unique cards in his or her hand combined with 3 from the board (table where community cards are located).
Or 1 unique card combined with 4 from the board.
Or the 5 cards on the board (this is called playing the board).

When the best hand possible (for everyone) is made up of just "community cards" (no pocket/hole cards), then the pot is split by everyone still in the game (everyone who hasn't folded).

In the example, seat 3 reveals his hole cards to be the King and Queen of Hearts giving him the nut flush.
Seat 8 turns over the Ace and Ten of diamonds giving him a full house of Aces full of Tens.
The dealer shoves the pot to seat 8 because he won.

All cards are returned to the dealer. The cards are shuffled and/or scrambled in preparation for the next hand. The dealer button is moved one position clockwise, indicating the new dealers position. The blinds are also moved one position clockwise and the blind bets are posted and a new hand begins.