Rules

How dealing works

Play money only

Pot Odds Club is play money with no real money involved. Play Chips and League Chips have no value outside the game: they can't be bought, sold or traded.

The shuffle

Before every hand, a full deck of 52 cards is shuffled by computer using unpredictable randomness. Every order of the deck is equally likely. No player, and nobody who runs Pot Odds Club, can choose or arrange the cards.

The deal

Cards are dealt one at a time around the table, starting with the player to the left of the button. Before the flop, the turn and the river, one card is burned: put aside face down, unseen. Nobody sees another player's cards unless they're turned face up.

A hand needs at least two players who can play. The next hand starts 2 seconds after the last one ends, or 5 seconds after a showdown.

The button and the blinds

The button marks the dealer's seat. The player to its left posts the small blind and the next player the big blind before any cards are dealt. A new table picks the first button at random. After each hand the big blind moves on to the next player, the small blind takes last hand's big-blind seat, and the button takes last hand's small-blind seat.

When a player leaves, the button can stay on an empty seat, or there can be no small blind for a hand (a dead button). That way nobody skips the big blind or pays it twice in a row. With two players, the button posts the small blind, acts first before the flop and last after it.

A new player is dealt in when the big blind reaches their seat. So is a player who missed a blind while sitting out or out of chips; a player who missed none comes straight back.

A player without enough chips for a blind posts what they have and is all-in. A short big blind must still be called in full. Antes, where a private game has them, are posted by everyone dealt in and don't count toward a call.

Who acts first

Before the flop, the player to the left of the big blind acts first. After the flop, the first player still in to the left of the button acts first.

Smallest bet and raise

The smallest bet is the big blind. A raise must be at least as big as the last full bet or raise: at 10/20, after a bet of 20 the smallest raise is to 40, and after a raise to 60 the next is to at least 100. You can always go all-in for less.

An all-in that is smaller than a full raise doesn't let players who have already acted raise again; several of them that add up to a full raise do. When everyone else is all-in, nobody can raise.

The betting unit

The amount slider and the amount box move in steps of the small blind. A typed amount moves to the nearest step when you leave the box. The ½ pot, ¾ pot and Pot buttons round down to a step, never below the smallest raise; in Pot-Limit Omaha, Pot is the exact pot limit. Min and All-in are always exact, even when they aren't a whole step.

All-ins and side pots

A player who is all-in stays in the hand to the end, but can win from each other player only as much as they put in themselves. Bets above that go into side pots, which only the players who matched them can win. A bet nobody calls goes back to the player who made it.

When the betting ends because players are all-in, every hand still in is turned face up before the rest of the shared cards are dealt.

Split pots and odd chips

Equal hands split the pot. A chip that can't be split goes to the first winner to the left of the button.

The turn clock and the time bank

On public tables you have 20 seconds to act. When they run out, your time bank starts: 30 seconds, used only when you need it, and time you use is gone. While it's a player's turn, their seat shows their time bank to everyone, and the ring around their seat turns red once the time bank starts.

Your time bank grows by 5 seconds for every 20 hands you're dealt, up to 30. It is full again after you run out of chips and buy back in, or when you sit down after at least 5 minutes away from the tables. Leaving and sitting down sooner, at the same table or another, keeps what was left.

If the clock and the time bank both run out, you check if you can, and otherwise fold.

Sitting out

After 2 timeouts in a row you are sat out from the next hand, and for the rest of that hand your turns are played at once: a check if you can, otherwise a fold. You can also choose to sit out; it starts with the next hand. On a public table a player sitting out isn't dealt in. Choose I'm back to play again (you may wait for the big blind, as above).

If you lose your connection, your turns get the 20 seconds but not your time bank, and after 60 seconds away you are sat out.

On a public table, a player sitting out for 15 minutes leaves the table, and a player with no chips has 2 minutes to top up before leaving. Their chips go back to their Play Chips.

Leaving and topping up

You can leave a public table at any time. During a hand, your cards are folded at your turn and you leave when the hand ends. Your chips go back to your Play Chips. You can top up between hands only, up to the table's biggest buy-in.

You play at one table at a time. Public tables can be watched 30 seconds behind, and watchers never see a hidden card.

Private games

Private games are for invited players. The host chooses the game, 2 to 9 players, the blinds (the big blind is twice the small), a starting stack of 20 to 1,000 big blinds, an ante from none up to the big blind, the timers (Standard (20 seconds to act, 30 seconds of time bank), Turbo (10 seconds to act, 30 seconds of time bank), Relaxed (30 seconds to act, 60 seconds of time bank), or Custom: 10 to 60 seconds to act and 0 to 90 seconds of time bank) and the rebuys.

Everything above applies, with these differences:

Private games use League Chips. Each player gets the starting stack once. League Chips belong to that one game and never mix with Play Chips, and you can't be at a public table and a private one at the same time.
Nothing is dealt until the host starts the game. The table waits while fewer than two seated players are playing, and a game that goes 24 hours without being able to deal ends.
A player sitting out is still dealt in and posts the blinds. Their turns are played at once: a check if they can, otherwise a fold.
The time bank grows by 5 seconds for every 20 hands played while not sitting out. A break away from the tables doesn't fill it again.
There are no top-ups. Rebuys are the host's choice: off, until the host closes them, or for the first 10 to 180 minutes after the game starts. A player at 0 chips asks for a rebuy and the host approves it: one starting stack, with a full time bank. When rebuys are off or have closed, a player at 0 chips is out of the game.
Leaving a private game means quitting it. Your chips stay yours in that game, and you can come back only if the host lets you back in. The host can also remove a player: their cards are folded at their turn, they keep their chips, and they can't sit down again.
Private games can't be watched.