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Betting structures:

There exist three different betting structures: Limit, No-Limit and Pot-Limit.

Limit

This is the most widely used betting structure in casinos where cash games are played (with real money and not with tournament chips, also called ring games). The amounts of the opening bets and raises the player may make are defined in advance. During the first two betting rounds, the fixed amount for bets is the “Small Bet” fixed amount and the “Big Bet” for the two subsequent rounds. These amounts also apply to each raise. A Limit Texas Hold ‘em table is characterised by these two fixed bets. The blinds are calculated according to the latter, the big blind corresponds to the small bet and, therefore, the small blind corresponds to half of the small bet.
For example, on a 1 euro/2 euros table:

In general, a Limit Hold ‘em table also has fixed limits in the number of Raises and Re-Raises. This limit is often one opening bet and three or four raises.

No-Limit

Structure widely used in tournaments and, more rarely, in cash games. The opening bets and raises are unrestricted (a No-Limit table is characterised by its blinds since the Limit table bets do not exist), this encourages bluffing. A player can even bet his entire stakes all at once. He is then said to be “All in”. If the bet rises beyond the all-in's stake, the overage goes into a side pot. Indeed, a player is not entitled to win any amount over his/her total all-in stake.

For example:

Michel has 300 euros, Laurent has 200 euros, Robert has 100 euros, Marc has 50 euros. Michel bets 200 eoros and the three others call his bet, they are therefore all-in with the creation of three pots because Robert and Marc do not have enough funds:

    - Main pot which everyone is trying to win: 50+50+50+50 = 200 euros
      50 euros: Marc’s maximum amount.

    - Side pot 1 played for by Michel, Laurent and Robert:  50+50+50 = 150 euros
     50 euros: amount remaining for Robert after payment of the Main Pot > 100 euros – 50 euros

    - Side pot 2 played for by Michel and Laurent: 100 euros + 100 euros = 200 euros       
     100 euros: amount remaining for Laurent after payment of the Main Pot and Side Pot 1 > 200 euros – 50 euros – 50 euros

The pots are distributed according to the rank of the hands in the showdown, maximum amount that the players can hope to win:

Michel and Laurent, the whole pot: 200 + 150 + 200 = 550 euros
Robert: 200 + 150 = 350 euros
Marc: 200 euros

Pot Limit

Similar structure to No Limit except that the maximum authorised raise is equal to the current value of the pot, this makes it possible to avoid excessively rapid increases in the amounts staked before the flop.

Ante

A small forced bet, placed before receiving the cards by all of the players on the table (including Small Blind and Big Blind). It is like a tax allowing the players to receive their cards. Antes are used in tournaments, when the blinds begin to be large amounts, in order to continue to accelerate the rhythm of the game (higher amounts in the pots) without increasing the amount of the raises too much in proportion to the stacks.

Showdown

The showdown takes place after the final betting round which follows the River if at least two players are still in the game. In the showdown, the five-card hands that the players can form, using the seven cards that they have at their disposal, are compared: the two hole cards, plus the five board cards. A player can use his two hole cards, one or even none of them in order to create the best five-card hand. If the five board cards are the player’s best hand, he is said to be “playing the board”.

If the players have identical hands, the pot is then separated equally between them (if there is no side pot as seen earlier). However, the kicker must be taken into account for ranking the hands when it is not present on the board (see the examples paragraph). Identical runs always share the pot. In the case of flushes, the player wins who holds the highest flush card compared with the others.
The best possible hand which could theoretically be formed with the five cards on the board is called the “nuts” or “nuts hand”.

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