The Basics of Blinds and Betting

Before you can play the game, you're going to have to learn what betting options you have, when you have them and how to make them.
Depending on what style and limit of poker you're playing, the ante or blind structure will vary. I've added a series of tables at the end of this article to allow you to easily find the type used for the game you're about to play.
Antes, Blinds, Brings and Postings
Antes: An ante is a small set amount which all players must contribute before any cards are dealt.
Blinds: Similar to an ante, but not everyone has to contribute. There are two blinds, the small and the big. The small blind is placed by the player directly to the left of the dealer (dealer button), with the big blind to the left of the small.
In a Limit game, the small blind is half the minbet (the lower of the two limits) and the big blind is double infrared contactlenses that. For example, in a $4/$8 Limit game, the small blind is $2 and the big blind is $4.
In a No-Limit game, the game is usually referred to by the blind sizes. For example, a $2/$5 No-Limit game would be small blind $2, big blind $5.
Brings (Bring-In): In a Stud game, the person showing the worst up card (door card) must "bring it in." A $1/$2 Stud game would typically have a 25¢ ante. The player has the option to bring half the lower limit amount (50¢) or complete to the full bet of $1.
Posting: In a game with blinds, it's common for you to have to "post" before your first hand at the table. Posting is simply paying the amount of the big blind to be dealt your first hand. If this is required where you play, you also have the option to wait until you would be the natural big blind, or until the button passes you to post.
Betting Options
Call, check, raise, pass, re-raise, push, bet, check-out, three-bet and upstairs are just a few of the terms used in making bets on a poker table. It can seem daunting, but boiled down there are never more than three specific options you can pick from on any street.
All betting actions are made by either vocalizing them, or using a hand gesture. When learning the game, it's best to vocalize all intended action on your turn.
Bet: The first time someone puts money into play on a betting round is a bet. Action: Putting the exact amount of the intended bet across the line, into play.
Call: To match the bet made by another player to have acted before you. Action: Putting in any chips equal to, or less than the bet. Putting in one chip is always considered a call no matter what the value of the chip, unless stated otherwise before the motion.
Check: When no bet has been made, you can stay in the hand by choosing to check rather than bet. Action: Tapping your hand twice on the table, or making a "Keep on moving" sideways wave.
Raise: To increase the amount of the bet made by another. Action: Placing enough chips to make a legal raise in one movement. You are not allowed to place chips and then return to your stack to get more, unless you clearly state your intentions prior to the movement.
Push: A No-Limit term meaning you are betting all of your chips. Action: Pushing everything you have across the line.
Re-raise: You raise a bet, and re-raise a raise. Action: Same as a raise.
Check-out, three-bet, upstairs: All just poker slang for various actions. Not important in learning the game.
Betting Rounds:
A betting round ends when every player who has not folded has had a chance to play and has bet the same amount of chips. Let me make it a little bit clearer:

Not sure the bet is to you? Just ask the dealer.

• If you are first to act, you have the option to Check, or Bet.
• If someone before you has bet, you have the option to Call, Raise or Fold.
• If the first marked cards player bets, and everyone calls, the betting round is finished. The original bettor has already had a chance to act, and does not get to act again on the betting round.
• If the first player bets, the second player raises and the remaining players call, the original bettor now gets to choose an option on the new action. She can call, or re-raise. If she calls, the betting round is over. If she chooses to re-raise, then everyone else at the table has option again.

The Games
For quick reference, this is how five popular poker variants play out in terms of blinds and betting rounds and amounts.

Game	Blind/Ante
Hold'em	The game of Hold'em mostly only uses blinds. In higher-stakes games, or late stages of a tourney, you may see antes introduced in addition to the blinds.
Omaha	Same as Hold'em.
Seven-Card Stud	Typically uses an ante, and a bring. This can change from limit to limit, and room to room.
Five-Card Stud	Same as Seven-Card Stud.
Razz	Same as Seven-Card Stud.

Game	Betting Rounds
Hold'em	Four rounds total, plus blinds.
Omaha	Same as Hold'em.
Seven-Card Stud	Five rounds total, plus antes and bring.
Five-Card Stud	Four rounds total, plus antes and bring.
Razz	Same as Seven-Card Stud.

Game	Betting Amounts
Hold'em	Pre-flop and flop minimum bets are the lower limit, turn and river minimum bets are the upper limit.
Omaha	Same as Hold'em.
Seven-Card Stud	Typically bring is half the lower limit. First betting round and fourth street are the lower limit. Fifth, sixth and seventh street use the upper limit. NOTE: Ante and bring amounts, or usage, can change from limit to limit, and room to room.
Five-Card Stud	Typically bring is half the lower limit. First betting round and third street are the lower limit. Fourth and fifth street use the upper limit. NOTE: Ante and bring amounts, or usage, can change from limit to limit, and room to room.
Razz	Same as Seven-Card Stud.

Battle of Malta Near, Boot Camp No-Go

The 2013 PokerListings Battle of Malta is nearly here but the strategy boot camp that was supposed to precede the event has been cancelled.
The camp, which was planned for Sept. 23-25, generated interest but not enough to justify the entire seminar and time commitment of pros Dan “jungleman12” Cates, Johannes Strassmann, Max Altergott and Ashton Griffin.
Despite cancelling this year’s boot camp marked cards, there’s a good chance an even better version debuts next year at the 2014 Battle of Malta.

Battle of Malta Registration Strong, 500+ Expected

Cancelling the boot camp doesn’t affect this year’s Battle of Malta tournament with attendance looking very good in the early stages of registration.
Over 500 players are expected for the €550 buy-in tournament which offers a €200,000 guarantee -- an upgrade over last year’s €150,000 guarantee.
This year’s Battle of Malta takes place next week from Sept 26-29 with numerous pros like the aforementioned Cates and Griffin set to play as well as Andreas Hoivold, Luca Moschitta, Sofia Lövgren and many others.
Registration is still open and full packages available on the Battle of Malta webpage.

Poker One-Liners We Can All Do Without

Poker abounds with quickies - one-liners that seem to carry a cartload of wisdom.
Some indeed do. We even devoted an article to one of them.
Other favorites of mine are:

• Doyle Brunson's "Never go broke in an unraised pot"
• The uncredited "Small hands, small pots; big hands, big pots"
• and the wildly popular, "If you can't spot the fish in the first half-hour, it's you."

Most one-offs come from the greats, or get filtered marked cards down through the culture of the game.
And like aphorisms everywhere, they are admirable for their clean, efficient encoding of deep truths.
Alas, there are others that abound in poker rooms that come up short in the wisdom department but are far more common and more commonly believed.
I'd like to dissect a couple of them for you.
I hope there's a poker lesson here, and I hope even more that having read these you'll stop repeating them.

1. "I crushed the game last night at ____ (fill in the poker room or online poker site of your choice)."

If you "crushed the game" you should really not give yourself much credit.
No one deserves any special accolades for a single big win.
In the room where I play we have a school (metaphorically speaking) of semi-fish. They're actually reasonable players - not particularly gifted, not truly awful.
The game is too big to support the genuinely piscine; they would go broke too quickly.
Our partial fish just lose more than they win but, of course, without them the game would wither away.
One of these scaly folk must have stepped in something on his way in the other day. He caught cards that you would not believe.
It gave new meaning to the phrase "hit in the head with the deck." He walked away with two racks of greenies and over 4,000 coconuts in profit.
Not bad for a fish.
So, what do I hear from him next time I see him? I hear that he "crushed the game."
And not just that he crushed it. He now seems to think he's the best player in town because he recorded one of the bigger wins we've seen in months.