Table of Contents

1. Texas Holdem
2. Omaha
3. Tournaments
4. Card Values and Hand Rankings
5. Jackpot
6. Rake values
7. Disconnection Policy
8. Side Pots
9. Glossary

Game Rules

Texas Holdem

Game description

Texas Hold’em is the most popular variation of the card game of poker. There are three major variants of Texas Hold’em: limit, pot-limit, and no-limit.  All variations have the same basic structure and hand values; the betting is what differentiates them.

In Texas hold’em players are trying to make the best five-card poker hand according to traditional poker rankings. In hold’em each player is dealt two cards face down (the “hole cards”), then over the course of subsequent rounds five more cards are eventually dealt face up in the middle of the table. These face up cards are called the “community cards” because each player uses them to make a five-card poker hand.

The five community cards are dealt in three stages. The first three community cards are called the “flop”. Then just one card is dealt, called the “turn”. Finally one more card, the fifth and final community card, is dealt — the “river”.

Players construct their five-card poker hands using the best available five cards out of the seven total cards (the two hole cards and the five community cards). This can be done by using both of the hole cards in combination with three community cards, one hole card in combination with four community cards or no hole cards and playing all five community cards — whatever works to make the best five-card hand. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot.

Deck
As in most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck and no joker.

Table
The game is played on a standard poker table with two to 10 players. Each seated position at the table should have the same minimum and maximum wagering limits during each round of play, as specified by the table limits.

Holdem Game rules

Texas Hold’em is by far the most popular poker variant in the world, and everyone can join the action by learning simple rules.

Your goal is to make the best five-card hand according to Hand rankings which we covered above or bluff your opponent and get him to fold.

Texas Hold’em has three possible pot types, which influence the maximal amount of bets. These are:

• Fixed Limit – the bet amount is fixed;
• Unlimited Pot – players can raise the bet by any amount;
• Limited – players cannot raise more than the size of the total pot.

In Texas Holdem, every player gets two cards, which are faced down and known as hole cards. You should not show your holdings to anyone in the middle of the hand and only do that when you reach the showdown where you have to show the hand to decide the winner.

The goal of Texas Holdem is to make the winning 5-card combination from your hole and community cards. Community cards are displayed in the middle of the table, and everyone can use those to make a winning hand. There could be up to 5 community cards in Texas Holdem if you see the river. The first three are dealt on the flop, then one on the turn and the last one on the river.

These cards are visible all the time and every player can use those to make a winning hand combined with your holdings. You can use one or both of your cards to make the hand, or you can play the board, which means you are using all five community cards if you are unable to make a better combination with your hole cards.

The player who has the best combination wins if the showdown is reached, but you can always bluff your opponent and take down the pot without it.

Pre-game setup

Before the action starts, we need to decide who is going to be the dealer. Now everyone draws a card and who has the highest ones becomes the dealer in the first hand. After that, the dealer button moves to the left and everyone will be the dealer when it is their turn. If two player draws the card of the same rank (i.e if one player receives 10S and another player receives 10H) in this case the suits determine the dealer: Spades > Hearts >Diamonds > Clubs.

A player to the immediate left of the dealer is SB (small blind), and the player to the left of SB is BB (big blind). Both players have to post the blinds before the hand is even dealt, and that is why the bet called “blind”. In most cases, BB is exactly the double in size of SB or conveniently close to it.

Starting Texas Holdem game

When the dealer is set, and blinds are posted the action can start. As the name suggests dealer is the one who deals the cards, and he starts doing it by giving the first card to the SB and continuing clockwise until everyone gets two cards (meaning there will be two whole circles of dealing one card to each player). The dealer gets the last card if the hand is dealt correctly and then the betting action starts. When you finish playing the hand, the dealer button moves left by one place clockwise, and all action starts from the beginning.

The hand ends when every player folds in any giving betting round, or you see the showdown when all rounds are completed.

First betting round (Preflop)

When all the above steps are complete, blinds set and hands dealt – the first betting round begins. The first to act is the player who is in the immediate left of the big blind.

• He can FOLD – if his hand is weak and he does not want to play it;
• He can CALL – match the amount of the big blind if he chooses;
• He can RAISE – increase the bet to the size that he wants, which follows the limits of the game.

When the first player makes the decision, it is time for one who is sitting in immediate left to him, and all action continues clockwise until everyone makes the decision and matches bet sizes or folds. When a player decides to fold, he is not going to be involved in the hand anymore.

Other players also have these three options and can make a decision based on the strength of their hand if everyone folded until them. For example, if the first player calls, the second one raises, and everyone folds to the first player he can fold, raise or call and see the flop.

When everyone makes their decisions, and the bets are matched (is someone raised, another player called), we going to see the flop.

Second betting round (On the flop)

When the preflop round ends, the first three community cards are dealt on the flop, and everyone can evaluate if it helped to improve the hand with their hole cards.

Now the action starts from the first active player who is left of the dealer and continues clockwise like always.  Again, all players have to make their decisions and can choose from:

• betting (placing a bet if no one did that before them),
• checking (passing the action to another player, can only be done if no one bet before you),
• calling (matching the amount of the bet another player made), raising or folding.

Third betting round (On the turn)

When everyone acted, and all bets are matched on the flop, you will see the turn card. After seeing the fourth community card, the entirely new betting rounds begin, and the action follows in the same way as on the flop.

Final betting round (On the river)

The last community card, which you will see is called the river. It is the fifth card that is placed face-up, and everyone can use it to make the winning combination. When the card is displayed, another betting round occurs in the same way as on the previous street. Depending on your spot, you still have an option to check, bet, raise, call or fold. When all the betting action is completed, the remaining player will go into the showdown. After the final round of betting has completed, the hands are revealed, and the pot is awarded. The player with the highest ranking poker hand will win the pot. If there are two hands with identical values, then the pot will be split.

Omaha

Game description

The rules of Omaha are very similar to the Texas hold’em rules. The only difference is that every player receives four cards face down (the ‘hole cards’) and has to pick exactly two of his four hole cards and three of the five community cards to make his or her best five card hand. In case with 5-card Omaha, the player is dealt 5 hole cards at the beginning of the game, and the player must use three of them and two community cards to make the best possible hand. The rest of the rules (the hand rankings, the dealing procedure, etc.) is the same. Omaha is played with three pot structures: fixed limit, no limit and pot limited, the same as Hold’em.

In Omaha Poker all players are trying to make the best five-card poker hand according to traditional poker rankings. Each player is dealt four cards face down (the “hole cards”), then over the course of subsequent rounds five more cards are eventually dealt face up in the middle of the table. These face up cards are called the “community cards” because each player uses them to make a five-card poker hand.

The five community cards are dealt in three stages. The first three community cards are called the “flop”. Then just one card is dealt, called the “turn”. Finally one more card, the fifth and final community card, is dealt — the “river”.

Players construct their five-card poker hands using the best available five cards out of the nine total cards (the four hole cards and the five community cards). This can be done by using two of the hole cards in combination with three community cards. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot.

Deck
As in most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck and no joker.

Table
Omaha is a community-card game played with two to ten players on one table. Each seated position at the table should have the same minimum and maximum wagering limits during each round of play, as specified by the table limits.

Omaha Game rules

Omaha is by far the most popular poker variant in the world, and everyone can join the action by learning simple rules.

Your goal is to make the best five-card hand according to Hand rankings which we covered above or bluff your opponent and get him to fold.

Omaha Hold’em has three possible pot types, which influence the maximal amount of bets. These are:

• Fixed Limit – the bet amount is fixed;
• Unlimited Pot – players can raise the bet by any amount;
• Limited – players cannot raise more than the size of the total pot.

In Omaha Poker, every player gets four cards, which are faced down and known as “hole cards”. The goal of this game is to make the winning 5-card combination from two cards of your hole cards and three of the five community cards. Community cards are displayed in the middle of the table, and everyone can use those to make a winning hand. There could be up to 5 community cards if you see the river. The first three are dealt on the flop, then one on the turn and the last one on the river.

These cards are visible all the time and every player can use those to make a winning hand. The player who has the best combination wins if the showdown is reached, but you can always bluff your opponent and take down the pot without it.

Omaha High/Low

The Hi/Lo (H/L) game is played exactly the same way as the Omaha game with only one difference. At the showdown the player with the best high hand takes half of the pot. The other half of the pot goes to the best low hand, provided that it meets the required low qualifications. If nobody possesses a qualifying low hand, the entire pot goes to the best high hand. The low hand must be composed according to the following rules:

• It must consist of the two of the hole cards and three of the community cards. The cards from the highest hand can simultaneously be used for making the lowest hand.
• Aces are considered low for the low hand.
• There must be no pairs, three-of-a-kinds and four-of-a-kinds in low combinations. If there are at least two cards of the identical rank, the hand will not be considered low.
• If there are cards higher than 8 in hand, it cannot be considered low.
• Flushes and straights are not considered for the low hand.

Thus, the best possible low hand is 5-4-3-2-A regardless of the suits, and the worst one is 8-7-6-5-4. Other examples of qualifying low hands: 8-7-4-3-A, 7-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-3-2, etc.

Pre-game setup

Before the action starts, we need to decide who is going to be the dealer. Now everyone draws a card and who has the highest ones becomes the dealer in the first hand. After that, the dealer button moves to the left and everyone will be the dealer when it is their turn. If two player draws the card of the same rank (i.e if one player receives 10S and another player receives 10H) in this case the suits determine the dealer: Spades > Hearts >Diamonds > Clubs.

A player to the immediate left of the dealer is SB (small blind), and the player to the left of SB is BB (big blind). Both players have to post the blinds before the hand is even dealt, and that is why the bet called “blind”. In most cases, BB is exactly the double in size of SB or conveniently close to it.

Starting Omaha game

When the dealer is set, and blinds are posted the action can start. As the name suggests dealer is the one who deals the cards, and he starts doing it by giving the first card to the SB and continuing clockwise until everyone gets four cards. The dealer gets the last card if the hand is dealt correctly and then the betting action starts. When you finish playing the hand, the dealer button moves left by one place clockwise, and all action starts from the beginning.

The hand ends when every player folds in any giving betting round, or you see the showdown when all rounds are completed.

First betting round (Preflop)

When all the above steps are complete, blinds set and hands dealt – the first betting round begins. The first to act is the player who is in the immediate left of the big blind.

• He can FOLD – if his hand is weak and he does not want to play it;
• He can CALL – match the amount of the big blind if he chooses;
• He can RAISE – increase the bet to the size that he wants, which follows the limits of the game.

When the first player makes the decision, it is time for one who is sitting in immediate left to him, and all action continues clockwise until everyone makes the decision and matches bet sizes or folds. When a player decides to fold, he is not going to be involved in the hand anymore.

Other players also have these three options and can make a decision based on the strength of their hand if everyone folded until them. For example, if the first player calls, the second one raises, and everyone folds to the first player he can fold, raise or call and see the flop.

When everyone makes their decisions, and the bets are matched (is someone raised, another player called), we going to see the flop.

Second betting round (On the flop)

When the preflop round ends, the first three community cards are dealt on the flop, and everyone can evaluate if it helped to improve the hand with their hole cards.

Now the action starts from the first active player who is left of the dealer and continues clockwise like always.  Again, all players have to make their decisions and can choose from:

• betting (placing a bet if no one did that before them),
• checking (passing the action to another player, can only be done if no one bet before you),
• calling (matching the amount of the bet another player made), raising or folding.

Third betting round (On the turn)

When everyone acted, and all bets are matched on the flop, you will see the turn card. After seeing the fourth community card, the entirely new betting rounds begin, and the action follows in the same way as on the flop.

Final betting round (On the river)

The last community card, which you will see is called the river. It is the fifth card that is placed face-up, and everyone can use it to make the winning combination. When the card is displayed, another betting round occurs in the same way as on the previous street. Depending on your spot, you still have an option to check, bet, raise, call or fold. When all the betting action is completed, the remaining player will go into the showdown. After the final round of betting has completed, the hands are revealed, and the pot is awarded. The player with the highest ranking poker hand will win the pot. If there are two hands with identical values, then the pot will be split.

Tournaments

A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a “heads-up” tournament), and many of players playing on hundreds of tables. The winner of the tournament is usually the person who wins every poker chip in the game and the others are awarded places based on the time of their elimination. To facilitate this, in most tournaments, blinds rise over the duration of the tournament. The player can see the structure of the raising bets in the tournament Lobby.

The minimum number of players is 2 players, the maximum possible number of players is 3 000 players. When a specified number of players is registered, the tournament registration will be closed.

The tournament can be private. If a password is specified for a tournament then only players who know the password will be able to participate in the tournament.

To enter a typical tournament, a player should pay a fixed Buy-in and Entry fee. Buy-in is the minimum required amount of chips that must be bought to become involved in the tournament.

The entry fee is the money paid to participate in a tournament that goes to the platform of the tournament and isn’t put into the prize pool. The cost for participating in the tournament is therefore buy-in + entry fee, where only the buy-in goes into the prize pool. At the start of play is given a certain quantity of tournament poker chips for each player. Tournament chips have only notional value; they have no cash value, and only the tournament chips, not cash, may be used during play. Typically, the amount of each entrant’s starting tournament chips is an integer multiple of the buy-in.

Some tournaments may use tickets as a tournament entry fee. Each ticket has the amount of the ticket. For successful registration, ticket price should be equal to buyIn+entryFee and the tournament activity should match with the ticket activity. If the ticket amount exceeds “buy-in + entry-fee” of a tournament, the difference will be accrued for the benefit or to the account of a user, depending on the settings. If a player registers using the ticket, the ticket cost is added to the prize pool. If Entry Method of the tournament is set up to “Money and Tickets” a player may register in this tournament using the money only without a ticket. This procedure is valid for the tournaments with different buy-ins and entry-fees.

Tickets are distributed to all winning places till the ticket’s value overtops the remaining amount of the prize pool. If the ticket’s value is higher than the remaining amount of the prize pool, the player will receive that remaining amount. Example:

1. The prize of the tournament is a ticket with value $10;
2. The buy-in of the tournament equals $1;
3. 35 players registered for the tournament;
4. The prize pool equals $1 x 35 = $35;
5. The number of prize places is 4. This number is counted so that maximal number of tickets were distributed to the players. Thus, here the formula is $35 / $10 = 3.5, which means that there will be 3 prize places with the tickets and one with the remaining amount of money from the prize pool.
6. At the end of the tournament the prizes will be distributed like this:
   • The 1st place gets a $10 ticket;
   • The 2nd place gets a $10 ticket;
   • The 3rd place gets a $10 ticket;
   • The 4th place gets the remaining money from the prize pool, $5 ($35 – $10 – $10 – $10 = $5).

If a user registered for a tournament with the use of his ticket cancels his registration, he will receive his ticket back or, depending on the settings, the money will be accrued to his balance. Some tickets can be exchanged for Real Money.

Also tickets are used in the sattelite tournaments. A tournament in which the prize is a free entrance to another tournament is called sattelite tournament. There the players do not win cash, and this ticket generally cannot be transferred or used for another purpose. A satellite tournament is a minor tournament that can be perceived as a qualifier. Winners of the satellite tournaments usually win the buy-in fee to a larger tournament. Satellites often can have multiple tiers. The main idea that usually stands behind the satellites is to reduce the player’s entry pool so the larger tournament can facilitate it.

The prizes for winning are usually derived from the buy-ins, though outside funds may be entered as well. Tournaments without a buy-in are referred to as freerolls. A freeroll tournament is free to enter and usually the player is given one chance in the tournament.

For some tournaments, there is a possibility for late registration for players. Late registration gives a chance to register at the tournament after it starts. Players can register during a time specified for late registration. Late registration closes after first player knocked out. In other cases tournament with late registration doesn’t differ from tournaments without it.

Also the player has an opportunity to enter the tournament again after elimination. It is possible in the re-entry tournament. When player loses all his chips he will be offered the ability to re-enter immediately. If player chooses not to re-enter at that time, he can still register normally from the tournament lobby any time during the late registration period. Multiple entries at the same time are not allowed. In a re-entry tournament player will receive a new seat, and will be seated like any other new player, usually ending up at a different table. In Multi-entry tournament player can buy-in multiple times and play at different tables at the same time.

Some tournaments offer the re-buy option, which allows players to pay additional money and receive new chip stack in case they lost all their chips and, thus, avoid elimination. After the so-called “rebuy period” is over, the play resumes as in a standard freezeout tournament, where the player has a fixed chip stack and finishes the tournament when he loses all of his chips or wins all chips of his opponents. A player is not allowed to rebuy in-game if he has too many chips (usually the amount of the starting stack or half of it). At the end of the rebuy period remaining players are typically given the option to purchase an “add-on”, an additional amount of chips, which is usually similar to the starting stack. When a player has no chips remaining (and has exhausted or declined all re-buy options, if any are available) he or she is eliminated from the tournament.

If the tournament have a limit playing time, when this time expires the tournament will be completed. Prizes will be distributed based on the amount of chips each player has.

Tournaments may have a guaranteed prize. It is a minimum amount of prize pool, even if the amount of all buy-ins, rebuys and add-ons is less then this amount.

If the tournament has special prize, then a winner will see a notification about a special prize in the tournament lobby in a desktop application. Also tournament may have Second Prize, and the tournament setting specifies a number of players that will get the second prize.

There are 2 schemes of prize distribution exist:

• Table – this table is specified in the tournament settings
• Winner takes All – only one winner gets the entire prize.

If the tournament have a Share prize option, then upon reaching the final table the players can share the prize without finishing the game. If all players express the desire to share, the tournament will automatically be completed and the players will get the shares based on the selected share type:

• Equal Prizes – will share the remaining prize equally among the remaining players;
• Stake size based prize distribution – will share the remaining prize in proportion of the remaining players’ stacks;
• ICM based prize distribution – the probability of taking each of the prize places will be calculated for each remaining player, a certain share of the prize will be accrued based on this calculations.

Tournament types description

There are 2 main types of tournaments:

• SnG – tournament starts when it has a number of registered players, that was specified for this tournament.
• Scheduled – tournament starts, when it’s time that specified for it as a Start date and time and enough players are registered.

The Scheduled (or MTT) tournaments are started at a specific time. The administrator specifies the number of tables and the number of seats at a table. The initial stake, time and blinds amount are specified in the tournament settings.

Sit&Go – in plain language: sit down and play. Such tournaments are started at different times – upon registration of the specified number of players. The initial stake, time and blinds amount are specified by the administrator. Naturally, there is no late registration that is why the corresponding option is unavailable in the tournament settings.

Shootout – a special mode of tournaments that includes several rounds. During the first round, the players are evenly distributed between the tables and play until the last player wins. When the winners are determined, they sit at new tables and a new round is started (similarly). The game is started from the beginning – initial stakes and blinds levels. So, in order to win a tournament it is necessary to win at your table in each round. Such tournaments are started like Sit&Go – upon registration of the required number of players.

Spin tournament is a single table Sit&Go tournament with Spin prize distribution. There 3 players can participate in this tournament. The application has a drum for Spin & Go tournaments. During the start of the tournament, a drum is displayed on top of the table, scrolls to the dropped prize value and disappears.

Fifty50 Tournament is a single table SnG tournament. It is specific feature is that it is stopped when half of the players are eliminated. The remaining half of the tournament participants will get paid according to a special formula. It implies that half of the prize pool is paid to the remaining players in equal parts. The other half of the prize pool is distributed among the players depending on the size of the chip stack left, thus a finisher with a bigger stack will get paid more than someone with a very short stack.

The Double Or Nothing tournament is a single table Sit&Go tournament is stopped when half of the players are eliminated. The remaining half of the tournament players will share the prize pool in equal parts, i.e. every player will get paid a double buy-in amount.

The most common playing format for poker tournaments is the “freezeout” format. All players still playing in a tournament constitute a dynamic pool. Whenever a player loses all his chips and gets eliminated, his table shrinks. To combat the constant shrinking of tables and avoid having tables play with varying numbers of players, players are moved between tables, with unnecessary tables getting closed as the tournament progresses. In the end, all remaining players are seated on just one table, known as the “final table”. Most sit and go tournaments are freezeouts.

Certain tournaments, known as bounty tournaments, place a bounty on some or all of the players. Bounty – is a feature that rewards a player for eliminating another player. A player might be rewarded for eliminating either a specific player, or any player.

• Knockout prize – sets up the size of reward for eliminating any player from the tournament. Players make an additional entry-payment that will define knockout prize;
• Bounty prize – sets up a reward for eliminating specific players from the tournament. Players for whom a reward is assigned are formed from the “Bounty Players” list (shows up after filling the Bounty Prize form). Players do not pay this fee, the payment comes from the room budget;
• PRO Bounty Prize – sets up a reward for eliminating PRO-players from the tournament. PRO-player is determined by the “Pro player” parameter, which can be found on the player’s settings.

If a player knocks an opponent out, the player earns the opponent’s bounty. Individual bounties or total bounties collected by the end of a tournament may be used to award prizes. Bounties usually work in combination with a regular prize pool, where a small portion of each player’s buy-in goes towards his or her bounty.

Progressive knockout tournaments is a subspecies of knockout tournaments where you get only a portion of the current opponent’s bounty (usually 50%) for knocking him out, and the second part is added to your own bounty.

The winner of the progressive knockout tournament receives a reward for himself.

Progressive Knockout with other types of bounty:

• Progressive knockout applies only to a knockout prize. Bounty prize and PRO bounty prize will be rewarded as usual.

Progressive Knockout with other tournament settings:

• Multi-entry – when player entries are combined, the bounty of these entries will be summarized.
• Re-entry is similar to regular knockout tournaments. When a player re-enters a tournament he will need to pay buy-in and fees(including knockout) as usual.

Card Values and Hand Rankings

The rank of each card used in Holdem and Omaha Poker when forming a five-card high poker hand, in order of highest to lowest rank, shall be: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. All suits shall be considered equal in rank. The ace would be considered low any time the ace begins a straight or a straight flush.

Before you join to play on poker tables, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the basic hand rankings. Here are the 10 hands every player should know before joining the action.

• Royal Flush

Poker’s most famous hand, a royal flush, cannot be beaten. It consists of the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of a single suit.

• Straight Flush

Five cards in sequence, of the same suit. In the event of a tie, the highest rank at the top of the sequence wins.

• Four of a Kind

Four cards of the same rank, and one side card or ‘kicker’. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest side card (‘kicker’) wins.

• Full House

Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank. In the event of a tie, the highest three matching cards wins.

• Flush

Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence. In the event of a tie, the player holding the highest ranked card wins.

• Straight

Five non-suited cards in sequence. In the event of a tie, the highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins.

• Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest, and if necessary, second-highest side card (‘kicker’) wins.

• Two Pair

Two cards of matching rank, two cards of different matching rank, and one kicker. If both players have an identical Two Pair, the highest kicker wins.

• Pair

Two cards of matching rank, and three unrelated side cards. In the event of a tie, the player with the highest, and if necessary, second or third-highest side card wins.

• High Card

Any hand that does not qualify under the categories listed. In the event of a tie, the highest card wins, such as ‘ace-high’.

Jackpot

Jackpot is a special prize granted from a separate prize pool for gathering specific combinations on cash tables. Following jackpot types are available in the game:

• Monte Carlo Jackpot is awarded to a player who has the strongest hand, in case the winning combination matches the ones specified by the poker room.
• Bad Beat Jackpot is awarded when a player with what appeared to be strong cards nevertheless lost the game. For example, if Jack Quads were beaten by a Straight Flush. The unlucky player defeated by a bad beat will receive jackpot if his/her combination and the combination of the person who defeated him/her match the ones specified by the poker room.
• Smart Jackpot works similarly to Bad Beat Jackpot, but can only be played during certain hours specified by the poker room.

Please, note that in order to trigger jackpot the player must use both of his hole cards to create the highest possible hand. Also there’s an additional requirement for players with one of the following combinations: Four Of a Kind, Full House, Three Of a Kind, Two Pair, Pair. Players with combinations from the list above must have a pocket pair (when two of the player’s hole cards make a pair) to win jackpot.

Another requirement to win jackpot is to show cards. If the player who was supposed to win jackpot decided to muck or win without showing his cards, he/she will not be awarded with jackpot. Monte Carlo and Smart Jackpots are available only for Hold’em Cash Tables. Bad Beat Jackpot can be used for Hold’em and Omaha. In case with Omaha, the combination to win jackpot should consist of 2 player’s hole cards and 3 community cards (the same as in Hold’em).

The jackpot prize pool is common for all jackpot tables of one type (one prize pool for all Monte Carlo Jackpot tables, one – for Bad Beat Jackpot tables and one for Smart Jackpot tables) and is filled with parts of rake. The rake part taken to the jackpot prize pool is a fixed percent. For instance, the rake part that goes to jackpot prize pool is 5%. The rake at the jackpot table was 3$. Then 15 cents will go to the jackpot prize pool.

Rake Values

Rake is the commission online poker rooms take for providing poker games. It is usually taken after each round (after the showdown) but can be taken at each street. In cash games the rake is a predetermined fraction of the pot which has maximal and minimal amounts. For instance, the rake amount is 5% of the pot but it cannot be less than 1$. Thus, the rake will not be taken from the cash games where the size of the pot is less than 20$. In the tournaments rake is known as entry fee. So for a tournament of $10 + $1, $1 is the rake that goes to the online poker room while $10 goes into the prize pool.

The following table presents the example of rake values used for Texas Hold’em. However, different rooms can create individual rake tables.

Tabel information are on the LINK.

Disconnection Policy

If a player loses connection, or leaves a game while they have an action pending, the game is considered to be incomplete.

Ring Game

In case a player gets disconnected from the internet, the game detects that and provides additional time which is called “Disconnection Timebank”. The value of disconnection timebank is set in the back office.

If the player does not return after the additional provided time, the action is taken as check if allowed, else cards are folded and player will be moved into Sit Out mode.

For any games that start after player is disconnected, the seat is reserved for the player for the additional time and if player does not rejoin by then, the seat is emptied for another player. Player is not take part of games that start after disconnection to ensure that there is no risk to his/her chips after he/she has been disconnected.

Tournaments

In all tournaments the players will be given unlimited time to re-join in case of disconnection. However, small, big blinds and antes will be posted as applicable in each round till the chip stack becomes zero.

The above rule implies that in each round, you are dealt with the cards and they are folded when your turn comes.

Information on Connection Quality

The game software is not affected by the poor functioning of the player’s devices, with the exception of the operation of procedures established for concluding turns or incomplete games.

Side Pots

If at any point one player is all-in (that is, has all their money in the pot) and two or more players continue in the hand, besides the all-in player, then a main pot and a side pot is created.

The player who is all in is able to win all of the money in the main pot, but can take no further action on the hand. He will be not be involved in any future betting and will wait until the showdown to see if he has won the main pot. The other players still in the hand will be acting on the side pot. All future betting will be placed in a separate pile, which only the players who are not all-in are eligible for. If there are two or more players involved in the hand, in addition to the all in player, at showdown, the pots will then be awarded.

First the winner of the side pot is determined, the player with the highest ranked hand, who is not all in, will win it. Then, the main pot will be decided, between the all-in player and the winner of the side pot. Whoever has the highest ranked poker hand between those two will win the main pot.

Glossary

AVG POT – average pot, the medium pot at the table.

H/HR – hands per hour, the number of games that take place on the table for hour on average.

PLRS – the number of players;

Dealer Button – the button that determines the dealer, and the dealer position determines the order of posting the bets.

SB – small blind, the first smallest stake at the table. This stake is mandatory, which means that if the player refuses to post it, he is eliminated from the hand. This stake is posted by the payer on the immediate left from the dealer button before the cards are dealt. The blinds are necessary to create the minimal pot.

BB – big blind, the second mandatory stake. It is usually twice the small blind. This stake is mandatory, which means that if the player refuses to post it, he is eliminated from the hand. This stake is posted by the payer on the immediate left from the player who posted the small blind before the cards are dealt. The blinds are necessary to create the minimal pot.

F – fixed pot type; the bet amount is fixed, and the player can only raise to that fixed amount.

NL – no limit pot type, in which the players can raise the bet by any amount.

PL – pot limited pot type, in which the players cannot raise more than the size of the total current pot.

H/L – High/Low, the modification of the poker games in which the pot is split between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand.

Showdown – the process of showing cards at the end of the game.

Hand – 1) The round of play from the dealer button movement till the showdown; 2) The player’s cards.

Street – a stage of the game which includes the dealing of a card / cards (in case with flop) and further betting.

Hole cards – the player’s private cards which only he can see and use to make a combination;

Community cards – common cards that are dealt at the table face up. They can be used by all players in-game to create the highest possible combination.

SnG, Sit&Go, Sit and Go – tournament type. Such tournaments start after the required number of players have registered for them.

Heads Up – a poker game with two participants.

Spins, Spin&Go, Spin and Go – the Sit&Go tournaments for three players where the size of the prize pool is determined by a random multiplier.

Rapid (Fast Fold) poker – a special type of tables in which when the player folds his hand, he is immediately moved to a new table to start a new hand.

Buy-in – the payment that should be payed to register for a tournament. It goes to the prize pool.

Entry fee – the commission that the players pay to the room when they register for a tournament.

Straddle – straddle is a special way of raising during the blinds posting (before the dealing of the hole cards). It can only be posted by the person sitting next to the BB and is double the big blind. Example: player1 posts 1$ small blind. Player2 posts the 2$ big blind. Player3 has a choice – whether he/she wants to post big blind or straddle. If player3 chooses the post straddle, 4$ will be posted. If player3 refuses to post straddle, that person would still have to post a big blind (2$). The player4 sitting next to him/her will not have the opportunity to post straddle in any case.