How to Play Poker: Betting Basics.
Any experienced poker player will tell you
there are two objectives that go hand in hand—pardon
the pun—for every game you play: either
win big or lose small.
Here's how.
You will need A standard deck of playing cards
Money or poker chips to bet with and a little
mental acuity.
Step 1.
Poker involves rounds of betting into a shared
fund, or "pot," which accumulates in the middle
of the table.
Each round is followed by receiving or exchanging
cards that depends on the type of poker you're
playing.
Betting begins with either the dealer or the
player to the dealer's immediate left and
proceeds clockwise around the table.
Step 2.
Most games begin with a "forced bet", a mandatory
bet from every player before the cards are
dealt.
This bet may be an "ante", a set amount that
each player must match in order to join the
game before the dealing begins, or a "blind"
bet, any amount the first player decides to
place as his or her 
opening bet.
In Hold'em games with betting limits, it's
traditional for the blind bet, or the "small
blind," to be half the amount of the betting
limit.
It's also traditional for the next player's
bet, or the "big blind," to be twice the small
blind.
Step 3.
After the opening bet, you must decide how
to respond to whatever bet immediately precedes
your turn:*
You may "fold" by refusing to match the bet
and withdrawing from the game.* You may "call"
the bet by matching its amount in order to
stay in the game.* You may "raise" the bet—first
matching the previous amount and then increasing
it.
Step 4.
In "no-limit" poker games, players also have
the option of going "all-in"—matching and
raising a bet with all their remaining money
or chips.
Step 5.
The betting ends when the last player in the
turn calls the preceding bet.
At that point anyone who wants to stay in
the game must match the final raise amount.
Then it's time to cross your fingers and reveal
your cards...
Did you know The annual World Series of Poker
event in Las Vegas regularly ends with final
pots exceeding one million dollars.
