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Basic rules of poker

When you’re learning how to play online poker and about the basic rules of poker at PokerTime keep in mind that there are countless variations to poker but all the games do follow the same basic pattern.

Play will always start to the left of the dealer and proceeds in a clockwise direction. Every hand is marked by the rotation in a clockwise direction of the “dealer”, puck or buck.

The dealer is a fixture in both casino poker and online poker. Where the dealer button is placed determines where the blinds are and the order of the betting.

When each hand begins, one or more of the players make compulsory bets, otherwise known as “blinds” or the “ante”. These bets are compulsory because they create the starting “pot” for which the players will contest. Then the appropriate number of cards has been dealt to each player, face-up or face-down, according to the type of game being played.

Players can then have a look at their cards and then the first of what will become several betting rounds starts with all bets being added to the pot. The game and the players’ hands develop with the dealing of the communal cards or by replacing the cards that were dealt previously.

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