The Limits in a Poker Game

Poker games are the kind of card games where a player has to keep on betting so that they can stay in the game. In a single round of betting, all of the players have to have placed the same amount of money into the pot. This is called "calling." If a player does not want to put any more money in, they have the option of folding, which essentially takes them out of the hand, and out of contention for the pot. Another option a player has during a betting round is to raise the amount of money being bet. When a player raises, all of the other players in the hand must place this new amount into the pot, regardless of whether or not they have already put money into the pot for that betting round. Normally, a raise has to be at least twice that of the previous amount, but rules may vary from game to game, and in some cases, re-raising the amount of money to be bet in a single round is not allowed.

Normally, in a poker game, regardless of the variant being played, there is a minimum amount that a player must bet. On the other hand, certain poker games sometimes also have limits on the maximum amount a player can bet. The four most common forms of poker betting limits are as follows: fixed limit, spread limit, no limit, and pot limit. No limit and pot limit are often collectively called "big bet poker."

A poker game with a fixed limit structure is one where the betting amount is completely fixed. Because bluffing is often an important part of a poker game, a fixed limit game usually has the fixed limit doubled over the course of the hand. The doubling of the fixed amount is often called a "big bet." Often, there is also a maximum number of raises per betting round as well.

A spread-limit poker game is one where the betting structure lets a player raise the betting amount, but only within a certain range. In a game where the limit is one to six, for example, a bet must be anywhere between one dollar, and six dollars. If it is a multi-round poker game, it is not unusual for the limit to grow larger during the later rounds.

All poker games have a minimum bet, usually fall under one of the betting limit forms, and often also have a "betting unit." A betting unit is the smallest possible denomination for a bet. Sometimes, for the initial forced bets that kick off a poker hand, the amount is less than that of a single betting unit.