In the previous article we began to study the rules of poker, partly the actions at the table and some terms. In this article we’ll talk about the stages, the so-called trading.
Circles of trade (streets)
All of these actions are taken by players in each of the four rounds of trade or as they are otherwise called “streets”:
- Preflop
- Flop
- Turn
- River
In each hand, trading continues until the person to the right of the last player to bet or raise. When the turn comes back to him, the next round begins or the hand is over if all players before him have folded.
1 street – Preflop (no open cards)
After all players have received their cards, each player decides what he will do, whether he will quit fighting for the pot and discard his cards, try to continue the game by making a call of one big blind, or a raise of at least two big blinds.
The first player to the left of the big blind speaks. Then the word goes clockwise from player to player in turn. If no Raises are made in the preflop, the player on the big blind has the last word. If a player raises, the game proceeds as described above until all players have spoken.
At the end of the betting round, all bets made by the players are collected into one total pot, which will continue to be fought for on the next streets – the flop, the turn and the river.
2 street – Flop (three cards)
This street begins at the end of the preflop. Three common cards are placed on the table, which are called the flop. Unlike the preflop, bets on the flop start with the first active player to the left of the batten.
The last active player to act on the flop is the button.
Players have the same actions as in the pre-flop, with one exception: if no one has bet before, a player can check and pass the turn to the next player without betting anything in the pot.
After all players have said their word, all bets made are added to the current pot.
3 street – Turn (fourth card)
After the bidding on the flop is over, the fourth common card – the turn, which is also used by all players to make their own combinations, is put on the table.
There is another round of bidding, according to the same scheme as on the flop.
It starts with the first active player clockwise to the left of the player on the batton.
The four open cards on the table already give enough information for players to make decisions and assess their chances of winning.
4 street – River (fifth card)
After bidding on the turn, the fifth and final card, the river, is placed on the table. After opening the river card, players analyze their final combinations and conduct the final round of bidding.
The bidding round starts again with the first player clockwise to the left of the batten and the same bidding rules apply as on the flop and turn.
All of the players’ money in the pot is added up to the current pot and the game moves on to the final stage.
