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In the Final Lap

If you are staying in game even after the turn card and river card then you can make the claim for the pot after displaying your hole cards. If only one player does not fold after the display of river card then he/she wins the pot; otherwise there are few ways to determine the winner. As mentioned earlier, the five community cards belong to all players and if any of the players have hole cards that can be used to form the high ranking five-card hand then they increase their chances for winning the pot.

Let us consider an example; if the community cards (three flops, the turn card, and the river card) are J♦ T♦ Q♦ 5♥ 4♠ and your hole cards are K♦ A♦ then you have a Royal Flush, that is, A♦ K♦ Q♦ J♦ T♦. Similarly there are several combinations which will determine your chances for winning the pot.

Know about the Rare Case

There is one in 649,739 chances for you to come across this combination; the community cards being T♠ J♠ Q♠ K♠ A♠ or similar formations. In this case, all the players who stay till the display of river card have a Royal Flush.

First Round of Betting

Following the posting of bring-in bets, the player to the left of the one who made the bring-in bet will begin the game by calling the bring-in, folding, or by completing the bet to full amount. If it is a $2–$4 seven-card Stud game then it will cost $1 for calling the bring-in while $2 will be the first raise. After the first raise, the players can raise twice in the increments of $2 each time. As in all poker games, the first round of betting ends after every player chooses to either fold or call all the bets.

Fourth Street Betting Round

After the first betting round, each player is dealt with a face-up card and the betting that follows it is known as Fourth Street. Starting from Fourth Street round, the players showing the best face-up card in each round will get to act first. In the case of a tie between two or more players, the suit of their cards is used for breaking the tie (similar to the tie-breaker for bring-in bet). In the round of Fourth Street, all raises and bets will be in $2 increments in $2–$4 game. After the completion of Fourth Street round, the players are dealt with another face-up card.

In the Fourth Street Round

A fact to be noted in Fourth Street round of betting is if one of the players has a pair formed with the face-up cards then he/she will have the following choices: to check, to make a $2 small bet or a $4 big bet. In this case, the amount chosen by the mentioned player becomes the increment for Fourth Street round. If the mentioned player checks, the bets and raises will be the smaller amount (in $2-$4 game, it is $2).

After Fourth Street Round of Betting

Similar to Fourth Street round, one face-up card is dealt each in Fifth Street and Sixth Street rounds. All the bets and the raises will be for increasingly larger amount in the Fifth and Sixth Street. In the final round, the players are dealt with the seventh card, also known as Seventh Street or river card. In this case, the river card will be dealt face-down such that each player will have three face-down and four face-up cards. After the completion of the final round of betting, all the players should turn over their cards as they try making the best possible five-card hand with the seven cards they hold. The player having the best five-card hand will win the pot.

Few Low-Only Games

To understand the difference between high-low split games and low-only games, let us consider few low-only games such as triple-draw Lowball and Razz; the former is five-card Draw while the latter is seven-card Stud. Lowball is of two types, Kansas City Lowball or 2-7 Lowball and A-5 Lowball or California Lowball. Ace is a low card, flushes and straights will not count against you, thus the best hand in California Lowball is A2345. As far as 2-7 Lowball is considered, ace is high card while flushes and straights will count against you; the best possible hand is 23457.

High-Low Split Games

In case of Crazy Pineapple, you are allowed to form high hand and low hand with the combination of five board cards and your remaining hole cards. In Omaha, both low hand and high hand must be created by combining exactly two hole cards along with three community cards. If you are playing high-low split in poker games such as seven-card Stud, all the seven cards and if possible, the community card can be used for forming the high hand and low hand. Thus, after the end of final betting round, the players must have both the best possible high hand and the best possible low hand.