Two hole cards, five community cards and four betting rounds: read your opponents, keep an eye on the pot and choose the moment to risk it all. A sit-and-go tournament for 2 to 6 players with rising blinds, played just for fun with chips that have no value.
Goal: Win all your opponents' chips: the tournament goes on hand after hand until only one player has chips left.
Every player starts with the same number of chips (1,000 or 2,000, depending on the option chosen). The chips are play money with no value at all: you play only for your finishing place.
Hands are played one after another. A player who runs out of chips is eliminated; the last player left in the game wins.
The dealer button marks the nominal dealer and moves one seat clockwise after every hand (the first button is drawn at random). The player to its left posts the small blind and the next player the big blind: forced bets that start the pot. There are no antes.
The blinds start at 10/20 and go up every 6 hands (every 4 in turbo mode): 10/20, 15/30, 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 150/300, 200/400, 300/600, 500/1000, then they double at every level.
The tournament dead-button rule applies: the big blind always moves on by one player, so nobody skips the big blind when players are knocked out; as a result a hand may be played without a small blind, or with the button in front of an empty seat. With two players (heads-up) the button posts the small blind, acts first before the flop and last after it.
Each player is dealt two hole cards that only they can see. Five community cards, shared by everyone, are then dealt face up in the middle of the table.
Preflop: after the deal, the player to the left of the big blind acts first. Flop: three community cards are turned over. Turn: the fourth. River: the fifth. Each stage has its own betting round which, from the flop on, starts with the first player still in the hand to the left of the button.
A betting round ends when everybody has acted and all the players still in the hand have put in the same amount (or are all-in). If only one player is left, they win the pot without showing their cards.
Fold: give up the hand and the chips already bet; you only fold when facing a bet, otherwise checking is free. Check: pass without putting in chips, only when there is no bet to match. Call: match the highest bet. Bet or raise: put in a bet or increase it. All-in: bet all your chips.
No-Limit means you may bet any amount up to all your chips. The minimum bet is the big blind; a raise must be at least as large as the biggest bet or raise made in that round.
A player without enough chips to call may go all-in for less. An all-in that is smaller than a full raise does not reopen the betting for players who have already acted: they may only call or fold, unless (even adding up several short all-ins) they are facing at least a full raise. You cannot raise when all the other players still in the hand are already all-in.
A player who is all-in can win from each opponent at most what they put in themselves: any extra bets form one or more side pots, contested only by the players who contributed to them. Each pot is awarded separately.
Any part of a bet that nobody calls goes back to the player who made it. If the big blind is short of chips, anyone who wants to play must still call the full big blind.
In a tie the pot is split equally; odd chips that cannot be divided go one each to the winners, starting with the first player to the left of the button.
If two or more players are left after the last betting round, the hands are compared: each player makes the best five-card hand from their two hole cards and the five community cards (using one, both or even none of their own cards). The best hand wins.
The last player to bet or raise on the river shows first; if nobody bet on the river, the first player to the left of the button. Play continues clockwise, and anyone who cannot beat or tie the best hand already shown mucks their cards without showing them.
If a player is all-in and the betting is over, all hands are turned face up at once and the missing community cards are dealt one by one. A player who wins because everyone else folded does not show their cards.
Royal flush: ace, king, queen, jack and ten of the same suit. Straight flush: five cards in sequence of the same suit. Four of a kind: four cards of the same rank. Full house: three of a kind plus a pair. Flush: five cards of the same suit. Straight: five cards in sequence. Three of a kind. Two pair. One pair. High card.
The ace counts as the highest card, or as the lowest in the straight A-2-3-4-5 (the lowest straight); straights do not wrap around (Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight). Suits have no rank.
Between hands of the same kind, the ranks of the cards decide, then those of the remaining cards (kickers): for example, a pair of kings with an ace beats a pair of kings with a queen. If the five best cards are equal, the pot is split.
A player who loses all their chips is eliminated and finishes behind everyone still in the game. If several players are knocked out in the same hand, the one who started that hand with more chips finishes higher; players who started with the same number of chips share the place.
As a safety net the game ends after 120 hands in any case: the players still in are then ranked by their chips.
Starting chips: 1,000 (a quicker game, 50 big blinds at the start) or 2,000 (100 big blinds, more room to play).
Blind increase: normal, every 6 hands, or turbo, every 4 hands: the blinds rise faster and the game is shorter.