Rules of Raising and Calling in Poker

If you are the beginner in poker, there is a thing you have to learn about betting options in it. There are 5 initial betting options a player has to remember and all of them depend on what you are going to gain be them, whether or not you are going to make a bet. Let us imagine that your opponent has already made a bet (in poker it is called to open the betting).

In case you feel your hand is too weak, you have to fold and that means that you will not take part in that certain round anymore. Anyway, on the other hand, in case you do want to continue the game and feel that your hand can actually play, you can either call or raise.

It’s High Time to Call

To call means that you accept the previous bet, and are ready to add and actually add the same amount to the pot as your opponent just did. In this case you are staying in the game and continue the poker battle for the pot. Calling the bet actually gives a player an opportunity to view the next card of the board (community cards) or to view the showdown in case the last dealt community card was the river card (the fifth community card dealt by the dealer).

The Right Time to Raise

However in case you fundamentally like your hand and feel it is the winning and so the strongest one, you may also raise the bet. Raising the bet means that you add a certain amount of money to the bet that has already been set in order to show the opponents that you have a strong hand or make them think so. Moreover on raising the bet you raise the amount in final pot as well, so the amount of money you will get in case of fortunate game end raises too. By raising you automatically force the opponent to call or raise incase he is willing to stay in the game and continue playing.

Re-raise Option

So if you raise, the opponent can re-raise as well. In that occasion he passes you the right to choose whether or not to stay in the game. The raising and re-raising situations may not stay a cyclic process forever. To avoid that, some casinos usually set a limit on the bets or raises allowed to be made. Anyway, some poker houses allow unlimited bets in case there are only two players involved in the game.

Of course, whenever you don’t feel like raising or calling, you can always check to see the next community card or the showdown.

However, the information presented here will become handy for those players who have no experience in poker at all. After all we wish you good luck in practicing your poker skills!