Level 1 · Lesson 4

Betting rules & what "No-Limit" means

When the action reaches you, you always have one of a small set of choices. After this lesson, you'll act on your turn without a flicker of doubt — the quiet confidence that separates a player from a beginner.

The five actions

On your turn, exactly one of these is available depending on whether anyone has bet before you:

CheckPass the action without betting — only possible if no one has bet yet this round.
BetPut the first chips in this round, setting an amount others must match to stay in.
CallMatch the current bet to stay in the hand.
RaiseIncrease the current bet — everyone after you must now match the higher amount.
FoldGive up the hand, forfeiting any chips you've already put in. Costs you nothing more.

A simple way to hold it: if there's no bet in front of you, you can check or bet. If there is a bet, you can fold, call, or raise. The betting round ends when everyone still in has matched the last bet (or checked around).

What "No-Limit" means

The "No-Limit" in No-Limit Hold'em refers to bet sizing. At any point it's your turn, you can bet or raise any amount up to all the chips in front of you — your entire stack. Pushing every chip in is going all-in. This is what makes the game so dramatic: a single decision can put your whole stack at risk.

Contrast this with Limit Hold'em, where bets come in fixed increments, and Pot-Limit, where the most you can bet is the current size of the pot. No-Limit is by far the most popular form.

The minimum-raise rule

You can't raise by a trivial amount. A raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise. If someone bets $10, the smallest legal raise makes it $20 total (a raise of $10). You can always raise more — up to all-in — but not less.

All-in and side pots

If you bet all your chips but others have more and keep betting, you simply can't win more than you put in. The extra chips form a side pot contested by the players who still have chips behind. You're only ever risking — and can only ever win back — what's in front of you.

The whole of Level 1 in one breath: the best five-card hand wins; the button and blinds set the order; a hand runs preflop → flop → turn → river → showdown; and on your turn you check, bet, call, raise, or fold — for any amount up to all your chips. That's the entire game. Strategy is just doing these things well.

Check yourself — no peeking

Answer each from memory. Retrieving the answer is what builds lasting recall.