Stakes & Game Types
Limit
In limit games, the minimum buy-in is equal to 10 times the big blind, e.g. in a $5/10 limit game, the big blind is $5, so the minimum buy-in is $50. There is no maximum buy-in.
Betting amounts are fixed according to the blind structure. For example in a $5/$10 poker game, a small bet is $5 and a big bet is $10. Big bets are used in later betting rounds, see Rules of Poker for when small and big bets are used in different games.
For example, in a $5/$10 Texas Hold "em game, all bets and raises during the first two betting rounds must be in $5 increments. For all further betting rounds, bets and raises must be in $10 increments. If a player has less than the fixed bet amount, but still wants to bet or call, then he/she is deemed "all in" and a side pot is created.
Another point to remember is that betting rounds are "capped" at 4 bets, meaning that player"s can not put in more than 4 bets in total on each round (i.e. re-raising is limited).
Pot Limit and No Limit
Pot-Limit and No-Limit games have a minimum and maximum buy-in. The minimum is usually 20 times the big blind and the maximum is usually 100 times the big blind. In a $5/$10 No Limit or Pot Limit game, the small blind is $5 and the big blind is $10. This is different from a $5/$10 limit game where $5 is the big blind and $10 is the big bet.
Pot Limit
In a Pot-limit game, the betting is limited by the size of the pot. So on any betting round, a player can bet any amount (above the minimum) up to the value of the pot.
For example, in a Pot-limit $5/$10 Texas Hold'em game, the first player to act can either call $10, raise the minimum $20 (2 times the current bet), or raise any other amount up to a maximum pot sized raise of $35. The $35 figure comes from the player calling the big blind's $10 bet, which puts a total of $25 in the pot, and then raising the size of the pot (10 + 25 = 35).
If the pot was raised to $35, the next player to act could either call the $35, or raise by betting any amount from $70 up through $105 ($35 + $70).
It is easy to see how the pot size can escalate very quickly.
No Limit
No-Limit Poker is similar to Pot Limit except that, as the name suggests, there is no limit to the amount that can be bet at any stage. The only limiting factor is the amount of chips you have at the table and this can be bet all at once if you wish.
As with all types of poker, if a player does not have enough to match another player"s bet, then they can call with what they have. They are then able to win no more than bets equal to what they have contributed to the pot. A side pot is created and competed for amongst the other players.
No-Limit poker is best suited to Texas Hold "em and it is this style of poker that decides the main event at the World Series of Poker.