Three decisions. One card that makes them.

You post an Ante and a Blind of the same size; Trips is an optional side bet. You and the dealer each get two cards face down, then you get three chances to put a Play bet out:

• Preflop. Raise 4× the Ante, or check. The table allows 3×, but the card never uses it.
• Flop. Three community cards land. Raise 2×, or check.
• River. The turn and river arrive together. Raise 1×, or fold. This is the only point where you can fold.

At showdown each of you plays the best five of your two cards and the board. The dealer needs a pair or better to qualify.

Raise 4× with any of these; check everything else. 69 of the 169 starting hands raise, about 41% of what you'll be dealt.

• Any pair from threes up. Pocket twos are the only pair that checks.
• Any ace, suited or offsuit, down to A2.
• Kings: K2s and up suited, K5o and up offsuit.
• Queens: Q6s and up suited, Q8o and up offsuit.
• Jacks: J8s and up suited, and JTo, the only offsuit jack that raises.

If you checked preflop, raise 2× on the flop with any of these, where hidden means one of your hole cards makes the hand rather than the board alone:

• Hidden two pair or better.
• A hidden pair, except pocket deuces.
• Four to a flush with a hidden ten or higher of that suit.

If you checked again, the river comes down to counting dealer outs: the unseen cards that would beat you outright. Of the 45 cards you can't see, fewer than 21 outs means raise 1×; 21 or more means fold. A hidden pair or better raises without counting.

The Blind pays on your own hand, and only when you win: royal flush 500 to 1, straight flush 50 to 1, four of a kind 10 to 1, full house 3 to 1, flush 3 to 2, straight 1 to 1. Anything below a straight pushes.

The Ante wins even money only if you win and the dealer qualifies. If the dealer doesn't qualify, the Ante pushes either way. The Blind and Play only care whether you won, lost or tied, and an exact tie pushes everything.

Trips pays on the best five of your own seven cards, whatever the dealer holds, even after you fold. Three of a kind is the floor. The pay table on the felt decides what it costs you:

• Full house 9, flush 7, straight 4: house edge 0.902%.
• Full house 8, flush 6, straight 5: 1.904%.
• Full house 8, flush 7, straight 4: 3.498%.
• Four of a kind 20, full house 7, flush 6, straight 5: 6.181%.

Treat Trips as separate money from the Ante and Blind you have to post every hand.

One hand costs more than the minimum suggests. Ace-king raises 4× preflop, so at a $10 table that's a $10 Ante, a $10 Blind and a $40 Play: $60 down before the flop, without Trips.

• Bet before the deal. Ante, Blind and Trips go down before a card comes out.
• Act in turn. Acting early gives the players still to come information they shouldn't have.
• Keep your cards to yourself. Don't show or discuss them until the hand is over, even after you fold.
• One hand per seat. Tip between hands, never while one is live.