It is very common is cash games for the blinds not to play against each other when all the other players at the table have folded. This is called a “chop”. The idea is that the blinds have random cards, they were “forced” to post the blind and stand to win or lose very little. Also, and this is probably more important, the house will not take a rake or drop from the pot if the player’s chop. They just take their blinds back and the next hand is dealt.

Now there are a couple of things involving a chop you need to know. First, be sure the card room rules allow a chop, some do not; but every well run poker room allows the chop. If our local room does not, have a chat with the poker room manager, they will earn a lot more player good will by allowing chops rather than not.

Second, it is good poker etiquette that if you chop then you always chop and if you don’t then never do. Either position is fine but don’t be checking your hole cards and then deciding whether or not to chop. You do or you don’t that is the correct position to take.

Sometimes you might hear the remaining players at the end of a tournament “chopping up” the prize pool. This is more often referred to as making a deal. We talked about tournament deals in a previous post.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #117

One more betting “gimmick” that you will often find in card room cash games, that is the Straddle. The straddle is an optional third blind, which is usually placed by the player to the left of the big blind. So, if you were playing in a 4/8 limit game, the blinds would be 2 and 4. The first raise would be from 4 to 8, so the straddle bet of 8 is placed before the deal by the first player to act.

The betting order is altered by the straddle just as it was by the Kill. The player who places the straddle bet will be the last to act before the flop. The advantage of acting last is basically what the Straddle player buys with his blind bet.

You should know that the straddle is used practically to liven up a table or get some action going when the play is considered to be too conservative or too tight. In fact, the straddle is a terrible bet as far as the odds go. While the blinds are forced bets, you pay once a round; the straddle is a voluntary blind bet and not just a bet but a raise! A player who constantly straddles is looking for action and generally they will find it, not always to their advantage.

One other variation you may hear is the “Mississippi Straddle”. This variation allows the straddle to be placed by any player at the table in any position not just the player who would normally be first to act. Frowned upon in many card rooms, the Mississippi Straddle is not allowed in many rooms and will not be tolerated by many players, who will sit out rather then have the game so dramatically altered.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #116

There are lots of betting variations that inhabit home poker games; wild cards, extra bets, side bets etc. But the “Kill Game” is actually a casino cash game variation. It works like this. Based on some pre-set event, such as a large pot or perhaps two consecutive wins by one player the “Kill” option is activated. For example:

You are playing 5/10 Hold’em “with a kill” and the kill is activated when a player wins two pots in a row. When this happens the player who wins those two pots will put up a third blind bet in the amount of one standard opening raise or in this case 20. The hand is played with an opening bet of 20 and in most card rooms the kill bettor gets to act last. So effectively the kill doubles the limits at the table for the kill hand only. If the same player wins again, the kill continues (it does not double again), if that player loses the hand, the blinds revert to 5/10.

Many rooms play both what they call a “Full Kill” where the blinds are doubled and a “Half Kill” where the blinds are increased 50% for the kill hand. Obviously, half kills must be played with even blinds, 2/4 becomes 3/6 or 4/8 becomes 6/12; you wouldn’t want to play 5/10 as a half kill and have to play 7.50/15.

Most rooms use a double sided kill button; one side is blank or says “one win” the other side says “Kill” usually in big, red bold letters. When the kill game is activated the dealer will put the Kill button up in front of the player and the player will post their kill blind directly on the button for all to see.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #115

Spread Limit is the least common betting structure you are likely to encounter but there are casinos and card rooms from Las Vegas to Moscow that do use Spread Limit. Any game played with a spread-limit betting structure allows a player to raise any amount within a specified range. So, if you are in a “one to five” spread limit game, any player may bet 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 on any betting round.

If player opens for 2 you could make it 7 or 6 or 5 or 4. Some but not all rooms require that your raise be of at least the same amount as the previous bet; so if someone bets 3 you cannot raise 2. This is not a universal rule, as some spread limit games allow any bet within the limits at any time. In such a room, you could bet 2, a raiser could make it 7 and the next bettor could make it 8. This is exactly why, when playing spread limit you should be clear on the local application of the rules.

In the United States you will often hear Spread Limit called “California Spread”; this is because many of the card rooms in California do not allow No Limit betting, instead to avoid the No Limit ban, rooms will have very high spreads like 1/100 or 2/500. The high end of the spread turns the game effectively into a No Limit game.

There is one warning about playing spread limit, which has to do with betting tells. If you always bet 2 on your drawing hands and 5 on your big pairs; your opponents will figure you out fast. Varying your bets is important in Spread Limit, either randomly vary your bets or never change your opening bet to avoid this obvious betting tell.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #114

Before we get into the details of Pot Limit betting, we should say that Pot Limit games are played a lot more in Europe then in the U.S. and that very good players often feel that Pot Limit is a much more skilled betting game than No Limit. We would also offer that learning to play Pot Limit will improve your Limit and No Limit betting skills. The reason for this is that with the Pot Limit betting structure you must learn to manipulate the size of the pot such that it is either more or less advantageous for an opponent to call you. And, of course, since the opponent knows you are manipulating them, it adds a whole new element to the “he knows that I know that he knows I know” aspect of the game.

In Pot Limit betting is simple in appearance but very tricky when in play. When it is a players turn to act, they may bet any amount up to the size of the pot. Simple right? But there is one twist. The pot size includes the player, who is doing the betting, first making the call. An example will help:

After the flop the pot is 300 and the first player to act bets 100. Notice they could have bet up to 300 but they only bet 100. The question is how much is the maximum the next player can bet? The pot is now 400 (300 from before the flop plus the 100 bet by the first player to act), here is how the “pot” calculation is done. First, the player wishing to raise the full amount must call the previous bet, which in this case is 100, so the 400 pot becomes 500 with the call. Now a “pot” bet is made of 500. So the player will put in 600 of which 100 is the call and 500 is the new full pot bet. The pot is now 1,000 and the next player may make a bet of 1,000 + 1,000 = 2,000 + 2,000 = 4,000 total.

Got that? It really is not that difficult but it does take some practice. One final fact about Pot Limit games, a good pot limit dealer will always keep track of the pot and if you ask they will know how much is in there at all times, however, to become a good pot limit player you should keep accurate track of the pot yourself.

Join an interesting discussion of Pot Limit betting in our poker forum.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #113