What Happens When You Make a Bet in Poker?

How to make a poker bet without holding a poker hand

A poker hand does not have to be in the middle of the table for you to make a bet. You can bet based on any number of factors, including the position of your opponents, and the amount of your ante (varies by game). The highest hand wins the pot, and betting moves clockwise from the starting player to the last. When you make your first bet, you have three choices: to call the pot, to raise your bet, or to fold.

How to determine a forced second bet in pot-limit games

In pot-limit games, a forced second bet is a bet that requires a player to make an additional bet, regardless of whether he or she has a winning hand. Depending on the rules of the pot-limit game, the forced bet can take various forms. In Texas Hold’em, for example, the forced second bet may be the small blind or the big blind. In these types of games, the player who is forced to make an additional bet must call or raise the amount of his or her active bet.