Texas Holdem Betting Variations
Betting may well be the essence of the game of poker. I've seen it written that the crux of this game is to lose as little as possible when you lose a pot, and win as much as possible when you win a pot. With that in mind, I wanted to write a page about the different betting styles involved in the game of texas holdem because even though the cards come out the same, changing the betting rules may significantly change the way the game is played.
Hold'em is commonly dealt in the fixed limit style of betting. The table uses two increments of bet size, the small and the big. Bets and raises must make use of one of these increments (they are clearly marked on the table. For instance a table may be a $2/$4 table, or a $5/$10 table).
In limit holdem, the number of bets per round is commonly capped at four. There are casinos and online poker rooms that allow unlimited reraises when only two players remain in the hand.
No Limit Holdem is of course the glamour betting style and is common at the tournament tables. There are also No Limit Cash tables as well.
Besides these common betting styles, there are other betting variations.
Pot Limit
This is a betting style that is most commonly associated with Omaha 8oB, but can be found at the holdem tables.
In a Pot Limit game, the maximum bet or raise is capped by the size of the pot. So, if the pot is $10, a player may not make a $20 raise, even if he would have the chips to do so.
Here is an example of raising in Pot Limit:
"If the main pot in the middle of the table is $10 the first player to act in the betting round bets $5, the second player could bet a total of $25 - $5 for his portion of the call and raise by $20, the total amount of money in the pot when the action got to him, including his call." - compliments of Absolute Poker
Kill Pot Games
This is another style of betting that you'll find from time to time at a holdem table. There are full kill games, and half kill games.
The idea is to introduce some random "higher stakes" hands into the game. The random part is taken care of by limiting the "kill" hands to once every time a player wins two pots in a row. (The pots have to be 5 times the big blind, so there has to be some betting for them to count).
When this happens in a kill game, the stakes are doubled for the next hand. The blinds are doubled as well, and the person who is on the winning streak is required to post a kill bet, equal to the big blind. This puts the winner at a bit of a disadvantage, but since they're on a streak anyway, that's just how it goes.
If the winner wins the kill pot, the next hand is a kill hand as well. But things just stay at the higher level, they are not doubled again.
Some rooms may have half-kill games where the stakes in a kill pot are bumped up 50%, not doubled.
Kill pots games are dealt online at Ultimate Bet.
Cap Games
This is something that is being dealt at Full Tilt. Basically, you play either no limit or pot limit, but there is a cap on how much you can place into the pot during any one hand.
Sound confusing? Here's how the folks at Full Tilt describe it . . .
"You have $281 at the table and the stakes are $1/$2 with a $60 cap.
Phil Ivey raises to $6 under the gun. Now it's your turn.
In this case, even though you have $281 in front of you, you can only raise a maximum of $54, since the cap is $60 for this table. If you bet the cap and Phil calls your bet, both of you are considered all-in for this hand and there is no more betting."
