If you are down to your last few chips, you may continue in the hand provided that you bet all your Chips - known as going “all-in”. You cannot be knocked out of the hand because you cannot match the bet, but you must commit every last one of your remaining chips.

At Hold ‘Em the strength of the first two cards is quite significant for, reasonably often, the player with the best starting hand ends up being triumphant. Since there are only two cards for each player to see, the best hand available so far would be a Pair - and a Pair of aces would be the highest Pair, and currently, best hand possible. Two low cards of different suits, say 7(C) and 2(D), would be the very worst hand, worth nothing now and unlikely to turn into anything exciting as the game proceeds.

For this round only, the action starts with the player to the left of the Big Blind since the Blinds are deemed to have made a bet already (subsequently, the player to the left of the dealer - the Small Blind bettor - always starts the betting action). Each player in turn must either take one of the following actions, which he says aloud when he is about to do it.

Fold, or Pass
This means refusing to bet and throwing away your cards - face down - and taking no further part in the hand. This you would do if you felt that your two cards were not strong enough to continue playing. It is, at this stage, the action you will take most often.

Call
This means that you place a bet exactly matching the current largest bet that has been placed on this round of the betting, in this case, the two chips placed by the Big Blind.

Raise
This is the strongest manoeuvre and means that you are raising the level of the betting to a new high. The minimum by which you can raise the betting will be the same amount as the Big Blind (in this case two chips). In order for other players to remain in the hand, they must now call or re-raise your bet. If you raised by the minimum, your bet would now be four chips.
If all subsequent players fold their hands, you win the pot and you do not need to show your cards. If a player or players match your bet, the hand continues.

Re-Raise
This is another raise on top of an original raise and is a very, very strong move. This might happen if two or more players feel they have premium hands and they want either to increase the size of the pot or to attempt to drive other players out of the action even before it has started. For example, your hole cards might be QQ but you are afraid that if the community cards include an ace or a king, another player might gain a better hand than you. By re-raising yoU might make those other players give up before any community cards have appeared.

When the betting reaches the Blind bettors, their actions are slightly dIfferent. If no raises have occurred, the Small Blind bettor may call for just one chip (he already has one chip in the pot as his Blind). He can also raise or, if holding a weak hand, fold.

The Big Blind bettor may, if there have been no raises Just “check” - see below - as he already has two chips in the pot. However, he also has the option to raise if he wishes.

Both Blinds retain the option to fold, call or re-raise if any player has raised before them.

Check
Means that you have already matched the current highest bet on this round of the betting (on subsequent rounds this includes when no bet has been made
by anyone) and you do not at this point, wish to add anything to the pot.