Poker Rules

Poker was a Sleeping Beauty in terms of global recognition and attention until just a few years ago. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, turned a $39 buy-in fee at an online poker satellite into a whopping $2.5 million payday at the World Series of Poker.

As played at WSOP, GamedayPoker hosts regular Texas Hold’em tournaments; which is the most popular variation of poker among casual players and WSOP Champions. Commonly referred to as Holdem, the objective is to hold the best possible five card poker hand using any combination of hole cards and community cards. At GamedayPoker, you can also play Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi Lo.

Play free poker or real money high stakes poker – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Despite all the differences among poker variants, they have one thing in common: You want to win the pot! The winning player will either present the best hand at the Showdown or make everybody else fold.
In community card games, such as Holdem and Omaha, you build a five card hand through the combination of hole cards and community cards; which include flop, turn, and river cards. In Stud Poker, you are dealt a total of seven cards and pick the best five-card combination.
Click on Hand Rankings to evaluate the best hands.

As you are not playing against the house, the dealer position must move clockwise to the next active player after each hand is dealt. The dealer button is a disk that indicates the dealer position of each hand. The dealing of the cards starts directly to the left of the dealer-button. Each player is dealt two cards face down by the dealer, known as the "hole cards," which is followed by a betting round.
There are four rounds of betting. The first round of betting occurs before the first community cards are dealt, called the "flop." The flop consists of three cards dealt face up in the middle of the table. Providing there are still players in the pot, a second round of betting occurs. After this round of betting, the "turn" card is dealt next to the flop cards. Next, the third round of betting takes place; if there are still players in the pot, the final card, or “river card,” is dealt. The “showdown,” or final and last round of betting, now occurs before the cards are turned over to determine the winning hand.

In Ring games, blinds must be paid by the two players immediately seated to the dealer’s left. The first player to the left of the dealer must post half of the small stake, also known as the "small blind.”
As an example, in a €5/€10 game, the small blind is €2.50. The player to his left must post the "big blind," which is the full amount of the lower limit of the stake, or €5.
When playing Heads-up, the blind structure is different than Ring games. Typically, the player who owns the dealer-button pays the big blind and his opponent pays the small blind.

Stud Games are generally played with no Blinds, but use an ante. An ante is a small amount that every player has to post before the start of a new hand. For details about betting in Stud Poker games please see Seven Card Stud.

You can either play Limit, No limit or Pot limit.

In Limit games, bet sizes for all betting rounds are predetermined. During the first two rounds, bets are set at the lower limit of the stake structure; during the last two rounds, bets are set at the higher limit.
For example, when playing in a €5/€10 limit game, all bets are €5 for the first two betting rounds and all bets are €10 for the last two betting rounds. The player to the left of the "big blind" starts the first betting round. All subsequent betting rounds are started by the "small blind" player. The maximum number of bets per player per round is limited to 4 bets. For example, say there was a bet (1) in first position after the big blind, known as "under the gun," and then the next player raises (2), then the next player raises (3) and then the next player raises (4) at this point the pot is capped and no more bets can be made. All subsequent players must either call or fold. After the "flop" is dealt the second stage of betting starts. Should you want to bet, you would need to put the upper limit of the stake into the pot.

In No Limit games, a player can bet all of their chips. The minimum bet during all betting rounds equals the size of the big blind.
The first raise during all rounds has to at least double the initial bet. As an exception, a player who does not have enough chips to double the initial bet can raise all-in regardless.

For minimum bets and raises the No Limit rules apply, however, the maximum raise equals the current size of the pot.

Notice: Gameday Poker Hold’em cash games are mostly No Limit, while the Omaha cash games are usually Pot Limit games.

*WORLD SERIES OF POKER and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah's License Company, LLC ("Harrah's"). Harrah's does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with GamedayPoker.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.

** Chris Moneymaker is not affiliated with GamedayPoker.com or its products, services, promotions or tournaments.