Poker betting in Two Cards: raise, all in and side piles

To stay in a hand, you must match the biggest bet so far. To make the others pay more, you raise. In Two Cards a raise is always at least as big as the last raise, and the raise buttons pick a good size for you. This page explains every betting button and what happens when someone goes all in.

How much do you need to stay in?

Look at the panel on the right when it is your turn. It tells you:

• "Nothing to match. Stay in for free, or put some chips in." You can Check.
• "Match 40 to stay in. Or put in more. Or fold." You must Call 40 chips, raise or fold.
• "Matching now takes all your chips." Calling would put in your last chips.

The Call button shows the number of chips it puts in, like Call 40.

How do you raise?

1. Tap Raise (R on a keyboard, Y on a controller). The raise panel opens. It starts at the smallest raise.
2. Pick the size. Use − and +, the slider, the arrow keys or the d-pad. Or tap one of the quick buttons below.
3. Your bet shows the total you will have put in this round.
4. Tap Confirm (Enter, or A) to put it in. Tap Cancel (Esc, or B) to go back without raising.

The game always lands on a size you are allowed to make, so a quick button picks the nearest one.

What is the smallest raise?

• If nobody has put in chips this round, the smallest bet is the size of the big first bet. In Play that is 20.
• If someone has put in chips, you must raise by at least as much as the last raise. If the big first bet is 20, the smallest raise is to 40. If someone then raised to 100 (80 more than 20), the next smallest raise is to 180.

Raise sizes go up in steps of the big first bet. With first bets of 10 and 20, you can raise to 40, 60, 80, and so on, up to all your chips. The side panel writes a raise as a total, like "Leo raised to 60".

An example after the middle cards

There are 120 chips in the middle, and nobody has bet yet this round. The first bets are 10 and 20.

What does All in mean?

All in means you put in all your chips. After that, you don't have to choose anything else in this hand. You stay in until the cards are shown.

• If your hand wins, you take the chips you can win (see side piles below).
• If it loses, you have no chips left. In Play, you sit back in with 1,000 chips at the next hand. In Play until one stack, you are out of the game.

You can always go all in, even when you have fewer chips than you need to call. Then you play for the chips you could match.

If everyone except one player is all in, nobody can bet any more. The game deals the rest of the middle cards at once and shows the winner.

What is a side pile?

Sometimes a player goes all in with fewer chips than the others. That player can only win as many chips from each player as they put in themselves. The extra chips go into a Side pile. Only the players who put chips into the side pile can win it.

Here is an example. Leo goes all in with 100 chips. You and Mira each put in 300.

When the betting is done, the table shows each pile with its name. At the end, the best hand among the players in each pile takes that pile. So Leo can win the main pile while Mira wins the side pile. The sentence then names both: "Leo wins. Three sevens. Mira wins some too, with Two pair, kings and fives".

If nobody can match the last chips of a big stack, those chips go straight back to their owner.

Why is the bet line so useful?

Every move goes into the side panel: "Mira raised to 60", "Leo called", "Signe folded", "Edvin put in all their chips". The panel shows the last four moves. Reading it tells you who is strong and who is just staying in. More on that in tips for new players and advanced tips.

See also

• How to play Texas Hold'em: the four rounds of a hand.
• Poker hands, best to worst: what is worth a raise.
• The computer players: who raises, and who folds to a big bet.
• Controls: the keys and buttons for raising.
• Play Poker Texas Hold'em: Two Cards.

• About Poker Texas Hold'em: Two Cards
• All game guides