No 1 in Gambling

Sample showdown

Here's a sample showdown:

Each player plays the best 5 card hand they can make with the 7 cards available. They have:

In this case, Ted's full house is the best hand.

Sample hand

The blinds for this example hand

Here's a sample deal involving our four players. The players' individual hands will not be revealed until the showdown, to give a better sense of what happens during play:

Compulsory bets: Alice is the dealer. Bob, to Alice's left, posts a small blind of $1, and Carol posts a big blind of $2.

Pre-flop: Alice deals two hole cards face down to each player, beginning with Bob and ending with herself. Ted must act first because he is the first player after the big blind. He cannot check, since the $2 big blind plays as a bet, so he folds. Alice calls the $2. Bob adds an additional $1 to his $1 small blind to call the $2 total. Carol's blind is "live", so she has the option to raise here, but she checks instead, ending the first betting round. The pot now contains $6, $2 from each of three players.

Flop: Alice now deals the flop of three face-up community cards, 9♣ K♣ 3♥. On this round, as on all subsequent rounds, the player on the dealer's left begins the betting. In this case it is Bob who checks. Carol opens for $2, Ted has already folded and Alice raises another $2, making the total bet now facing Bob $4. He calls (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol's initial bet and $2 to match Alice's raise). Carol calls as well, putting in her $2. The pot now contains $18, $6 from the last round and $4 from three players this round.

Turn: Alice now deals the turn card face up. It is the 5♠. Bob checks, Carol checks, and Alice checks; the turn has been checked around. The pot still contains $18.

River: Alice deals the final river card, the 9♦, making the final board 9♣ K♣ 3♥ 5♠ 9♦. Bob bets $4, Carol calls, and Alice folds (Alice's holding was A♣ 7♣; she was hoping the river card would be a club to make her a flush).

Showdown: Bob shows his hand of Q♠ 9♥, so the best five-card hand he can make is 9♣ 9♦ 9♥ K♣ Q♠, for three 9's, with a King and a Queen as kickers. Carol shows her cards of K♠ J♥, making her final hand K♣ K♠ 9♣ 9♦ J♥ for two pair, Kings and 9's, with a Jack kicker. Bob wins the showdown and the $26 pot.

Kickers and ranks

The following is another situation which illustrates the importance of breaking ties with kickers and card ranks, as well as the use of the five-card rule. After the turn, the board and players' hole cards are as follows (though none of the players know each other's hole cards):

At the moment, Bob is in the lead with a hand of Q♠ Q♣ 8♠ 8♥ K♥, making two pair, Queens and 8's, with King kicker. This beats Carol's hand of Q♥ Q♣ 8♠ 8♥ 10♦ by virtue of his King kicker. Both Alice and Ted are hoping the final card is a club, which will make them both a flush, but in that case, Ted would have the higher flush and win the showdown. For example, if the final card was the 7♣, Ted's flush would be Q-J-7-4-2, while Alice's would be Q-10-9-7-4. Alice could still win, though, if the final card were the J♦, as that would give her a Queen-high straight. On this deal, however, the final card was the A♠, which didn't help either of them. Bob and Carol still each have two pair, but notice what happened: both of them are now entitled to play the final Ace as their fifth card, making their hands both two pair, Queens and 8's, with an Ace kicker. Bob's King no longer plays, because the Ace on the board plays as the fifth card in both hands, and a hand is only composed of five cards. They therefore split the pot.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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