Hold'em

Start a tournament

Hold'em is online only, with 2–9 players including up to bots. Create Room opens a waiting room with only its creator, ready by default. Guests can add bots for unrated play, with other settings editable. Guest-created rooms cannot be joined remotely, even with zero bots. Guests can view rooms and read chat, but cannot join other rooms or post chat. There are no same-device seats.

Select Add bot in the host-only actions row below the player list to add a numbered bot such as Bot1. Each shows Automatic bot and a host-only Remove button. Bots count toward the nine-seat limit; other registered humans can still join while seats remain. Adding bots never starts the tournament. Recreating a room starts with no bots. Registered bot games remain rated, and human ELO stays visible. Each bot uses only its own private cards and public information to estimate its share of the pot, then checks, folds, calls, or makes conservative value bets and raises.

The host starts ready. Other players mark themselves ready, and the host selects Start Game once at least two players are present and every human is ready. The room need not fill all nine seats. Seats are randomly assigned when the game starts and remain fixed throughout the tournament. Joining closes when play starts. Eliminated players can continue watching.

All rooms are public to view. Joining is Open by default, with Host approval and 4-digit passcode also available. Host invitations, waiting-room transfers, and room recreation use the ordinary shared room controls.

Room settings

• Card type: Value-sum uses cards numbered 1–20. Square-grid uses the fixed catalog of 21 pieces. Triangular-grid and Polyabolo-grid each use 22 pieces. Polyabolo pieces contain 1–4 unit isosceles right triangles. Point-Voronoi uses distinct random points on a square, with no Maximum sum or Edit panel. All five types support live tournaments and waiting-room practice. See The Right Price’s Item types section for visual examples.
• Maximum sum: 25, 30 (default), or 40 for Value-sum. Fixed for the tournament.
• Edit panel: Replaces Maximum sum for grid types. Toggle tiles and Save to keep a local configuration for each type, or Cancel to discard edits. At least one tile must remain available. Hover over Edit panel or focus it with the keyboard to preview the saved panel, or the suggested panel before saving. Creating a room fixes this panel for the entire tournament and for Create same room, even if Admin defaults change later. Polyabolo cells cycle through a gap, four triangle orientations, and a full square; each full square counts as two unit triangles.
• Starting chips: 1,000 by default, from 10 to 1,000,000 per player.
• Big blind: 10 by default; choose an even integer at least 2. The small blind is half of it. This sets the initial big blind; the initial big blind plus ante cannot exceed the starting stack.
• Blind progression (Advanced settings): Fixed, ×1.5 every 10 hands (default), or ×2 every 10 hands. Before hands 11, 21, 31, and so on, multiply the current big blind by the selected factor, then round up to the nearest even number. Starting at 10, ×1.5 gives 10, 16, 24, 36, 54, and 82. Every completed hand counts, including hands ending through folds. Blinds stay the same throughout a hand. The small blind is half the current big blind; the ante stays fixed. Later blinds may exceed the original starting stack; players post only the chips they have. Create same room keeps the progression and restarts from the initial blind.
• Ante per player: 0 by default; zero disables the ante. The ante is separate from the current betting round's bet.
• Time per action: 15, 30 (default), or 60 seconds.
• Submission mode: Manual (default) or Automatic best for Value-sum and grid cards.
• Selection time: 30, 60 (default), or 90 seconds in Manual mode. Both settings are inapplicable to Point-Voronoi.
• Break between hands: 30, 60 (default), or 120 seconds. All eligible participants can agree to start the next hand early; otherwise the server timer ends the break. Bots agree automatically. Folded players with chips remain eligible; resigned and eliminated players are excluded. There are no rebuys. During a non-final break, if the last human is eliminated and only bots remain, all remaining participants have already agreed, so the next hand starts immediately without waiting for the rest of the break.

During gameplay, Continue defaults to Auto for each active human and remembers their Auto/Manual preference in the room. Auto agrees during each hand break; Manual lets you choose Agree to next hand. Switching to Auto agrees immediately during a break. Switching to Manual does not withdraw an agreement already submitted. Failed automatic requests can be retried manually. Spectators see the number of eligible participants using Auto as M/N, including bots. Choose Manual to allow time for optional reveals before agreeing, subject to the timer. The Last hand review retains each viewer's permitted cards after the next deal. Final results use a separate fixed configured final-results agreement break.

Testing during gameplay

The table takes about two thirds of the upper area, with a Testing area in the remaining third on the right; smaller screens stack testing below the table. Value-sum offers cards 1–20 and a Knapsack-style selected sum within the room's Maximum sum. Your cards and revealed Flop and Turn appear first; viewers use the default number order. Reset clears your test arrangement or selection.

Square-grid, Triangular-grid, and Polyabolo-grid let you place, rotate, reflect, and return pieces on this room's panel. Only your two cards and revealed Flop/Turn stay visible above it; spectators see only revealed Flop/Turn. Click Other pieces to expand the box containing the remaining pieces in default order. Selecting a piece closes the box and picks it up for placement. Clicking outside or pressing Escape also closes it. The box keeps its open state during updates and closes when the next hand starts.

Point-Voronoi shows a Visible points preview using only the non-folded points visible to you and revealed community points. Hidden hands are excluded, so this preview is not the final result. At showdown, the official diagram replaces it. Testing is local: it does not change your cards, bets, or score. Drafts survive community reveals and reset for the next hand.

Cards and betting rounds

Each hand shuffles one copy of every card in the selected fixed deck, or generates fresh distinct random points for Point-Voronoi. Every remaining player receives two private cards. The flop reveals one community card, and the turn reveals one more. There is no river or burn card. Nine players use 20 cards: the entire Value-sum deck, leaving one Square-grid card, two Triangular-grid cards, or two Polyabolo-grid cards undealt. Point-Voronoi uses two private points per player and two community points.

Players post the ante, then the small and big blinds, up to the chips they have. Betting occurs pre-flop, on the flop, and on the turn. With three or more players, action starts left of the big blind pre-flop and left of the dealer button afterward. With two players, the button posts the small blind and acts first pre-flop and last afterward. The button and blinds rotate between hands, preserving blind obligations after eliminations.

• Check: pass when you owe no additional chips. The big blind retains its option after pre-flop calls.
• Bet: open a betting round for at least the big blind, or all-in for less.
• Call: match the outstanding bet, or put in your remaining chips when you cannot cover it.
• Raise to: choose your total bet for this betting round, excluding the ante. A full raise increases the current bet by at least the last full bet or raise. The slider maximum adapts when your selected amount falls below 20% or exceeds 80% of its scale, aiming to place it within 40–60%. The maximum is a positive whole number, at least 1.2× the current pot (rounded up) whenever affordable, and never above your available total (remaining chips plus chips already bet this round). The chip ceiling takes priority over the pot floor, and both take priority over the target percentage when they conflict. Its scale starts at 0, but the thumb cannot move below the minimum legal bet or raise. A marker labeled “pot size” indicates the current pot when within the slider's range. You can also type a legal total or use All-in.
• Fold: give up this hand and its committed chips. After folding, select Reveal when hand ends beneath either or both of your cards to show them to everyone when the hand finishes. Both choices start unchecked and can be changed until then. During the hand break or final completed-hand view, use Reveal now to show an unrevealed card immediately. Reveals cannot be undone and do not affect scores or winnings. Choices reset each hand. Folded Point-Voronoi points remain excluded from the board and scoring diagram.
• All-in: commit your remaining chips when legal. A short all-in raise does not reopen raising for someone who has already acted unless they face at least a full raise in total when action returns. There is no limit on the number of full raises.

At a deadline, the server checks if checking is legal and folds otherwise. Refreshing, closing the tab, and navigating away do not resign your seat; you can return, while deadlines continue.

Pots and showdown

If everyone but one player folds, the remaining hand wins without exposing private cards or dealing unused community cards. Otherwise, after turn betting finishes, all surviving hands are revealed. If no further betting is possible, the remaining board is dealt automatically.

The server returns any unmatched bet and builds separate pots for different contribution levels. A player can win only the pots their contribution covers, and folded hands cannot win. The best eligible hand wins each pot independently, so several players may win different pots in one hand.

For Value-sum, your score is your best saved sum in Manual mode, or the largest possible sum in Automatic best mode, within the room's Maximum sum obtainable using any subset of your two private cards and the two community cards. You may use one, two, three, or all four cards, including community cards alone. The limit is 25, 30 (default), or 40; the best available sum may be lower. Automatic best computes the optimal combination for you.

In Manual mode, selection starts after betting closes and both community cards are revealed. Both cards of every remaining non-folded hand, including all-in hands, are revealed to all players and spectators immediately. Build a combination or arrangement using only your two private cards, Flop, and Turn. Improvements save automatically; select Finalize when ready. Reaching the limit, filling the panel, or using all four cards finalizes immediately. Selection ends when everyone finalizes or time expires. No valid saved submission scores 0, with the normal four-card tie-break. Bots submit their best result immediately. Resigning freezes your saved result or zero and preserves existing all-in claims. Submissions and scores stay private until settlement. Folded cards stay private unless their owner chooses to reveal them after the hand ends. A win by folds skips selection. Automatic best skips selection entirely. Older rooms without this setting retain Automatic best when started or recreated.

Finalize appears beside Best submission. Hover over the saved score to preview its cards or grid arrangement. Click, tap, or activate it with the keyboard to keep the preview open; activate again, click elsewhere, or press Escape to close. The preview shows the confirmed submission, even while you edit a different draft. Before any confirmed submission, the summary shows None yet.

Equal scores compare the complete four-card tuple sorted highest to lowest, including cards not used in the scoring sum. The highest differing card wins. With Maximum sum 30 and board [1, 2], [7, 20] beats [8, 19]: both score 30, but (20, 7, 2, 1) exceeds (19, 8, 2, 1). Equal tuples would require the same private cards, impossible in the Value-sum deck.

For Square-grid, Triangular-grid, and Polyabolo-grid, Manual scores your best saved arrangement. Automatic best uses the solver to cover the most unit tiles in the room's panel using any subset of your two private pieces and the two community pieces. Whole pieces may rotate and reflect, but must fit completely without overlapping. Your score is the number of covered tiles. At showdown, each evaluated hand shows its score, contributing cards, and scoring arrangement. Polyabolo scores, card values, and tie-breaks count original unit triangles, and pieces may rotate by 90 degrees or reflect. Its initial suggested panel holds 32 triangles; four cards can cover at most 16. Editing a smaller panel can make pieces compete for space.

Equal grid scores compare the tile counts of all four pieces sorted highest to lowest, including unused pieces. The highest differing count wins. If these tuples also match, the winners divide each eligible main or side pot equally, rounding each share down and discarding the remaining coins. For example, a 101-coin pot shared by three winners pays 33 each and discards 2. The info tooltip beside Chip counts lists the discarded coins for each completed hand, including hands with no discarded coins.

For Point-Voronoi, all remaining players reveal their two points on a square at showdown. One Voronoi diagram divides the square using those points plus the flop and turn. Your score is the combined area of your two regions as a proportion of the whole square. Flop and Turn regions are neutral and score for nobody, so players' area shares may total less than 100%. Folded players' points are excluded.

Every side pot uses that same diagram and compares only its eligible players. Areas within the scoring tolerance tie and split the pot using the discarded-coin rule; there is no coordinate tie-break. Displayed percentages are rounded and never determine the winner. Before showdown, you see only your own non-folded points and revealed community points. The waiting-room Practice area uses the same rules, shows each sample hand's area share and the winners, and offers Generate scenario. It includes at least two sample hands. For every card type, joins and departures leave your current Practice scenario unchanged. The next Generate scenario uses the latest room player count, including the bot.

Completion, resignation, and ELO

During rated play, open ELO changes in the right panel to test possible finishing orders. Players and spectators see Player, Ranking, Current ELO, ELO change, and New ELO. Each opening ranks unfinished players by available plus committed chips, with seat order breaking ties. Use the up and down arrows beside a rank to swap adjacent unfinished players. Each rank sits between its down arrow on the left and up arrow on the right. Unavailable arrows are hidden while the ranks remain aligned. Players who already have a final rank stay fixed, including tied ranks, with both arrows hidden. Newly finalized ranks lock during play; your remaining choices stay in their relative order. Reopening starts from the latest chips. This calculation uses current ratings and the normal ELO rules without changing the game or saving any ratings.

The last remaining player with chips wins. Other places follow elimination order. When several players lose their last chips in one hand, the larger stack at the start of that hand places higher; equal starting stacks share a place. This tournament-placement tie is separate from any shared showdown pot.

Resign requires confirmation. Choose Cancel to keep playing, Resign to resign and keep watching, or Resign & Exit to resign and return to the lobby after the request succeeds. Uncommitted chips leave play, while committed chips remain in their pots. An already all-in hand keeps its pot rights; other departing hands check or fold as action reaches them. Any chips returned or won by a resigned seat leave play after settlement. Resigned and eliminated players can spectate or exit and join another room.

A waiting-room participant's Exit opens a confirmation with Cancel and Exit. Confirming removes your seat and returns to the lobby; host ownership passes to a remaining player, and an empty room closes. If you are watching a waiting or playing room, Exit returns directly to the lobby without confirmation or changing membership. This also applies after resignation or elimination. Exit from a completed room or its final results returns directly to the lobby.

Each participant receives an average pairwise ELO result against every opponent: 1 for a higher finish, 0.5 for a shared place, and 0 for a lower finish. The expected result against an opponent is 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent ELO − your ELO) / 400)). The hypothetical ELO change is 40 × (average result − average expectation). Starting ELO is 1500. In human-only games, add the change to the old ELO and apply the minimum of 1. Ratings update once at completion; abandoned and administrator-ended games are unrated.

The bot participates in both averages at fixed ELO 1500. Its hypothetical ELO change is shared equally among humans and added to their changes. The human ratings are then reconciled to keep their combined ELO unchanged while respecting the minimum of 1. The bot stays at 1500, and only human rating changes and history are stored. Playing alone against the bot leaves your ELO unchanged for every result. Final results show signed one-decimal human changes, including +0.0, and dashes in both ELO columns for the bot.

Select Last hand beside the hand heading to review the latest completed hand. When a new hand begins, the previous winner and payout message clears from the table; players and spectators can still see that result here. The modal shows community cards, participant cards, winners and payouts, and actions in order, grouped by betting stage. You always see both of your own cards, including folded cards you kept private. You see another player's cards only if they were shown at showdown or voluntarily revealed; every other card stays hidden. Later voluntary reveals update the review. It remains available during the next hand and after the tournament, and the next completed hand replaces it. Reviewing a hand does not pause live play.

After a Manual showdown, Best possible: N appears beside any submitted score that could have been higher, including a zero from no submission. Select it to see one optimal card combination or grid arrangement using that hand's original panel. All players and spectators can open these examples in the completed-hand summary and Last hand review. Select the button again or press Escape to close the preview. Equally scoring alternatives are already optimal. Folded hands have no example, and examples never change actual scores, payouts, or rankings.

The podium appears immediately at completion, and final results open automatically after configured final-results agreement break. The podium becomes available when everyone agrees or the timer expires. Ratings and ELO history are stored; full hand records are not stored permanently. Unrevealed private cards and undealt deck order are never exposed through spectator projections. Admin summaries omit all private cards. Your own dealt hand stays visible to you before you contribute chips and after you fold, until the next hand. Folded points remain excluded from the Point-Voronoi board and scoring.