Progressive Hold’em Rules

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A Hold’em variant where players must bet an increasing amount to stay in the game as each community card is dealt.

Betting Structure

A Progressive Hold’em game will be identified by its bet sizes. There are four bet sizes that get progressively bigger throughout the game.

The bet amount increases at each betting round, so that in a 50c/$1/$1.50/$2 game, the first round will use a 50c bet and the last (4th) round will use a $2 bet.

The Deal Before cards are dealt, all players put up an ante.

Each player is dealt two cards, face down. These are their ‘pocket’ cards.

Players can choose to fold or bet. Players bet only the 1st bet amount, and no raising or checking is allowed. A player is either ‘in’ or ‘out’.

The Flop Three cards are dealt face up in the center of the table. These cards are to be used in conjunction with your pocket cards to form a 5-card poker hand. Since everyone can use these cards in their hand, they are known as ‘community cards’ or ‘the board’.

After the flop, 5 cards are available to each player (their 2 pocket cards and the 3 in the board). More cards will be added to the board later, and one will be removed from your ‘pocket’, so the hand you have here is not necessarily your final hand.

Those who still wish to stay in the game bet the 2nd bet amount ($1 in a 50c/$1/$1.5/$2 game). Players cannot check or raise.

The TurnA fourth card community card, the ‘turn’, is added. Now players make their 5-card hand from their two pocket cards and the 4 community cards.

Those who still wish to stay in the game bet the 3rd bet amount ($1.50 in a 50c/$1/$1.5/$2 game). Players cannot check or raise.

The River A fifth community card, the ‘river’ is dealt. Players now have 5 community cards to use in conjunction with one or both of their pocket cards to form their hand.

Players may use all 5 community cards and neither of their pocket cards, but the only chance of winning would be if the community cards formed a hand that beats all other players. In this case, the pot would be shared by all unfolded players.

Those who still wish to stay in the game bet the 4th bet amount ($2 in a 50c/$1/$1.5/$2 game). Players cannot check or raise.

Showdown All remaining players show their hand, and the best hand wins the pot.