How the betting works is in the course of each Poker deal, there will be one or more betting intervals in which the players have an opportunity to bet on their hands.

Before the cards are even dealt, the rules of the Poker game being played may require that each player put an initial contribution (called an ante) of one or more chips into the pot, to start it off.

Each betting interval begins when any player in turn makes a bet of one or more chips. Each player in turn after him must either call that bet (by putting into the pot the same number of chips); or may raise, which means that he puts in more than enough chips to call; or may drop, which means that he puts no chips in the pot, discards his hand, and is out of the betting until there is another deal and he receives a new hand.

When a player drops, he loses all chips he has previously put into that pot. Unless a player is willing to put into the pot at least as many chips as any player before him has put in, he must drop.

A betting interval ends when the bets have been equalized, that is, when each player has put into the pot exactly as many chips as each other player, or has dropped. There are usually two or more betting intervals for each Poker deal. After the final betting interval, each player who has met all the bets shows his hand face up on the table, and the best Poker hand takes the pot.

If at any time a player makes a bet or raise that no other player calls, that player wins the pot without showing his hand.

Check is a Poker term that means the player wishes to remain in the pot without betting. In effect, it is “a bet of nothing.” A player may check provided no one before him in that betting interval has made any bet. If any other player has bet, he must at least call the bet or drop. If all players check, the betting interval is over.

In each betting interval, one player is designated as the first bettor, according to the rules of the game. The turn to bet moves from player to player to the left, and no one may check, bet, or even drop, except when his turn comes.