New players often ask why a button is greyed out. The answer is nearly always the same: poker's actions come in pairs, and which half of each pair you get depends on whether someone has already bet. Once that clicks, the whole betting round makes sense.
Nobody has bet yet: check or bet
Check means “I put in nothing, and I pass the action along.” It is only possible when there is no bet in front of you to match. If everyone checks, the street ends and the next card comes free.
Bet is the first wager on a street. It sets the price everyone else must match to stay in. At our tables it shares a button with Raise — both mean “put more chips in than anyone has so far” — but the rule is the same: you can only open the betting when nobody has.
Someone has bet: call or raise
Call matches the current bet exactly. It is what Check turns into once there is a bet on the table — you can no longer pass for free, so the passive option costs chips.
Raise matches the bet and adds more on top. The minimum raise is the size of the last bet or raise; there is no maximum in No-Limit. When you raise, everyone who had already called must act again.
This is why you never see Check and Call lit at the same time, or Bet and Raise. They are the same two decisions — put in nothing, or put in more — wearing different names depending on whether a bet exists.
Always available: fold and all-in
Fold ends your hand and gives up anything you have put in the pot. You may fold at any time, even when you could check for free — though there is never a reason to.
All-in is not a separate action so much as a size: it is a bet, raise, or call for every chip you have. Once you are all-in you take no more actions on the hand; the cards are dealt out and the pot is settled at the end. If you go all-in for less than a full raise, the players who already acted may only call — see the short all-in rule.
The three mistakes
Calling when you meant to check. They sit in the same slot for a reason; look at whether there is a bet before you press.
Thinking you have “used up” your raise. You have not. You can raise on every street, and re-raise whenever someone raises you. The button is only withheld when there is nothing to raise, or after a short all-in.
Betting into a checked pot with nothing, then calling a raise. The bet was fine; the call is the leak. If you bet as a bluff and get raised, the polite word for what to do next is fold.
Position decides how much all of this is worth — the last player to act sees everyone else's choice first. That is the subject of poker position explained.
