Six actions you’ll see at the table
- Fold: Fold your hand. The chips you already put in stay in the pot.
- Check: Pass without adding chips when there is no bet to match.
- Bet: Make the first voluntary bet of the round.
- Call: Put in enough chips to match the current total.
- Raise: Increase the total of an existing bet.
- All-in: Commit all your available chips. This can be a bet, raise or call.
Act on your turn. A check keeps you in the hand; a fold takes you out. A call adds chips; a check does not.
To see check, call and raise in a game, try the free poker table. The controls show your available actions and the amount needed to call or raise.
When can you check or call?
After the flop, if nobody has bet, you can check or bet. If you face a bet, you can call, raise or fold. You cannot check while there is a bet to match.
The blinds are already posted preflop. A player with nothing in who wants to match the big blind calls. The big blind can check if nobody raised and their blind already matches the current bet. If only one player with chips remains against all-in players, that player cannot bet alone.
Total bet, chips added and pot
Keep track of three numbers: your total contribution this round, the current bet to match, and the chips you still need to add. Chips from earlier rounds are already in the pot and do not count toward a new call.
If the current bet is 30 and you already put in 10, it costs 20 to call. If you raise to 90, you add 80, not 90. The raise over the previous bet is 60.
The pot contains contributions from all rounds, including chips from players who folded. For readability, this site’s table includes current bets in the displayed pot total. Do not add them again.
Minimum bet and minimum raise
In No-Limit Hold’em, the opening bet normally must be at least one big blind. The minimum full raise matches the size of the last bet or full raise that round.
With a big blind of 10, someone raises to 30: an increase of 20. The next minimum full raise is to 50. If someone raises to 90 instead, that increases the bet by 60, so the next full raise must be to at least 150.
In No-Limit, the maximum is your available stack. In Pot-Limit, it depends on the pot, including the call before the raise. In Fixed-Limit, the structure sets the amounts.
3-bet, 4-bet e check-raise
Preflop, the blind is the first betting level. The opening raise is the second, and the 3-bet is the re-raise. A 4-bet raises again. The names count the levels, not multiples of a bet.
Postflop, the bet is the first level, the raise is the second, and a re-raise is the 3-bet. A third bet across different streets is a separate situation.
A check-raise means checking and then raising another player’s bet in the same round. It is possible only when the action comes back to the player who checked.
Below-minimum all-in and reopening the action
You can commit all your chips even if they do not cover the full call. You can win only the portion your chips cover. Excess chips from other players form side pots.
A short all-in raise by itself does not reopen raising for players who have already acted and are not facing a full raise. Players who have not acted still have their available options. Several short all-ins may have a cumulative effect depending on the situation and rules.
If the hand ends with part of a bet uncalled, the excess is returned. It is not an extra win of chips nobody put in.
How to declare your action clearly
At a live table, announce your action clearly and state your total when raising. Verbal declarations, chip movements and oversized chips have specific rules. Avoid putting in part of a raise and then adding the rest without a valid declaration.
At the demonstration table, the button shows the preset amount and action. You are not playing an open game against bots, and your skill is not assessed.