Atlassino Academy · Poker in the room · Lesson 3 of 13
The poker room: list, buy-in, stakes, rake
Getting a seat in a poker room is a short path: three questions at the desk, the waiting list, a buy-in inside the posted range, and a first hour that keeps to the rules of that room.
You walk into a poker room for the first time. What happens between the door and your first hand?
The short answer
A short path, and every room walks it its own way. At the desk, before you give your name, you ask the stakes, the buy-in range and what the room charges for the table. Your name then waits on the room’s list until a seat opens. You buy in for an amount inside the range the table posts and inside the amount you decided on at home, and take the seat you are given. Then comes a first hour that keeps to that room’s rules on phones, side bets and other players’ chips.
- The deskThree questions before you give your name.
- The listYour name waits on the room’s list until a seat opens.
- The buy-inChips inside the posted range and inside your plan.
- The seatSit where the list sends you; the dealer says when you are dealt in.
- The first hourThe room’s rules on phones, side bets and other players’ chips.
Most rooms walk these steps in this order; each words them its own way, and no step here is the rule of every room.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
A poker room is the one room in a casino where you play the other people at the table, and the house only takes its fee. The first visit is mostly waiting and asking, and every room words its rules a little differently. I would rather you asked at the desk three times than guessed once.
Getting on the list
Not every casino has a poker room. Hold’em, the game in which each player gets two cards of their own and shares five with the table, is not on offer at Fallsview Casino Resort, and its page sends players to the poker room at Casino Niagara.
Where there is a room, the first stop is its desk, and every room runs its waiting list its own way.
| Where | How your name goes on | How you are called | How long your name holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino de Montréal | At the poker room counter, when every table is full; the list is shown on a nearby screen | Ask the desk | Ask the desk |
| Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto | At the poker desk on level two, which hands you a pager | The pager | 10 minutes after the call; 90 minutes for a registered player who has not checked in |
| Casino Rama | By calling the hold’em call-in number | Ask the desk | Check in at the Poker Brush within 2 hours |
| Casino Niagara | At the reception desk in the room, with the Poker Supervisor, on the list for the game you choose | The brush calls your name, and nobody sits before that | Ask the desk |
| PlaySmarta guide for Ontario | With the brush at the poker podium; some rooms take names by phone | In turn: first come, first served | A window of time to check in, set by the room |
The brush is the room’s word for the person at the desk who seats players. Came only to watch a friend play? Ask the brush where you may stand.
Three questions at the desk, and the buy-in
Before you give your name, three questions settle what a seat will cost you before a single card is dealt.
- The stakesThe size of the two blinds at the table you want.
- The buy-in rangeThe smallest and the largest amount of chips the table seats you with.
- The room’s feeWhat the room charges, from each pot or for your time, and any cap.
The blinds are the two bets put in before any card is dealt. In B.C., the betting limits, blinds included, have to be clearly posted before a game begins. At Parq Casino, for one, the posted games include $1/$3 no limit hold’em with a buy-in from $100 to $500; the poker rooms in our atlas list each room’s stakes and buy-ins the way that room posts them.
An example table
- GameNo limit hold’em
- Blinds$1 / $2
- Buy-in$80 to $200
An example table, not any room’s stakes
An example table, not any room’s stakes and not a suggested stake. On a sign like this, the two numbers after the game are the blinds, the small one and then the big one; the buy-in is the range of chips the table seats you with. Amounts are in Canadian dollars.
A buy-in is the amount in chips you sit down with, and each place sets its own floor and, sometimes, its own ceiling.
| Where | The buy-in |
|---|---|
| Casinos in B.C. | The house posts a smallest buy-in. |
| Casino New Brunswick | At least the smallest buy-in for that table’s limit. |
| Casino Niagara | In fixed-limit games, where every bet is a set size, a smallest buy-in tied to the big blind, and a smaller one for buying in again, unless the table posts otherwise. |
| Parq | No buying in for less than the smallest buy-in. |
| Casino de Montréal | Chips from the cashier, for the amount the table needs to seat you. |
| PlaySmarta guide for Ontario | A smallest and a largest amount that changes from game to game; the dollar range in the guide is its own example, not a room’s rule. |
At Casino de Montréal, in the no-limit games at Casino Niagara and at Casino New Brunswick, the largest buy-in is a question for the desk.
Which buy-in inside the posted range is yours was decided at home, before the room was in sight.
Two plans against the same posted range: one inside it, one under its smallest amount.
Your plan: $150
Inside the posted range of $80 to $200: this table fits tonight’s plan.
Your plan: $60
Under the posted smallest buy-in of $80: this table is not for tonight’s plan.
The posted range is what the table will take; the plan is what tonight gets. A table whose smallest buy-in is past the plan is a table to pass by, and asking the desk for a smaller one costs nothing.
The room’s fee
The room plays no hand: the players play one another, and the room charges for the table, the dealer and the cards. The fee is usually a share of each pot, called the rake; Casino Niagara charges session fees instead, a set fee for your time at the table. Either way the fee comes out of the players’ own money, and lesson 7.10 counts what that comes to.
In B.C., the dealer takes up to 10% of the bets in each pot, never more than $15, and rounds the fee down. Rooms with a rule of their own set their own share and their own cap.
| Where | What the room charges |
|---|---|
| Casinos in B.C. | Up to 10% of the bets in each pot, never more than $15, rounded down. |
| Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto and Pickering Casino Resort | 10% of each pot, never more than $20. At the Toronto room, nothing from a hand that ends before the flop, and at least $2 after it. |
| Elements Casino Brantford | 10% of each pot, never more than $10 in some limit games and $15 in the rest. Nothing before the flop, at least $2 after it. |
| Casino Regina | Its own rules and rates: ask the desk for the figures. |
| Casino Niagara | Session fees, collected even from players away from the table: ask the desk for the amount. |
| Casino de Montréal, Casino Rama, Parq and Casino New Brunswick | Ask the desk. |
Before the flop means before the dealer turns up the first three shared cards: at the Toronto room and Elements Casino Brantford, a hand that ends by then pays no rake. Where a row says ask the desk, ask before you give your name.
Taking the seat
In B.C., a new player is not dealt a hand from a seat between the blinds and waits for the button, the marker that moves one seat round the table after each hand, to go past.
A table in B.C.
- Button
- Small blind
- New player’s seat
- Big blind
The new player’s seat sits between the small blind and the big blind; in B.C. that seat is dealt in once the button has gone past it.
We have this rule only for B.C.; ask the dealer how a new player comes in at your table. How the blinds and the button move round, and who acts first, is lesson 7.2.
Your first hour at the table
Each room writes its own rule for phones at the table, and the rules differ.
| Room | With cards in your hand | Out of the hand, in your seat | Taking a call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto | No phone, no other device, no smart watch | Devices kept silent, not disturbing play | Not on the phone at the table |
| Casino Niagara | No talking or texting while playing a hand | Small electronics allowed | Push back from the table first |
| Casino New Brunswick | No electronic devices at the table | No electronic devices at the table | Not at the table |
| Parq | Ask the dealer before the phone comes out | ||
The rooms with a phone rule agree on one thing: no phone while you have cards. Some ask for more: at Casino New Brunswick no device at the table at all, and at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto devices stay silent even out of the hand.
Bets outside the pot are another room-by-room rule. A side wager is a bet between players outside the pot; back betting is a bet on someone else’s hand. Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto does not permit side wagers, and in B.C. no one, player or not, may bet on another player’s hand.
The chips in front of you are the only chips you play. At Casino Niagara and at Casino New Brunswick no one plays another player’s chips, and at Casino New Brunswick nobody posts a blind, puts in that forced bet, for someone else. Why one player plays one hand is lesson 7.4.
- A side wagerNot at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto.
- Back bettingNot in B.C.
- Another player’s chipsNot at Casino Niagara or Casino New Brunswick.
- A questionAsk the dealer.
The Casino de Montréal page calls itself a summary of the main rules, says that a by-law it names prevails where the two differ, and closes by inviting players to ask the dealer.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
From the dealer’s side of the table, the new player who asked was never the trouble. The trouble was the one who guessed when it was their turn. A question costs the table a few seconds, and a guess can cost a hand.
PlaySmart, a guide for Ontario, puts the budget before the table: set it before sitting down and keep to it, and consider bringing cash only and leaving credit cards at home.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Decide the buy-in, and how many times you would buy in again, before you give your name at the desk. Once the cards come, a second buy-in is a decision made in the middle of an evening, and the plan you made at home is the calmer of the two.
When tonight’s buy-ins are spent, give the seat back to the list: the next hand was never part of the plan.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
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Practice: from the list to your first hand
One path, step by step. Level 1 covers the desk and the waiting list, the buy-in at an example table and the seat; level 2 is the first hour at the table, with the phone, bets outside the pot, other players’ chips and a question for the dealer.
Nothing is bet here. The amounts belong to an example table, and every room in a moment is named with its own rule.
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Level 1 · The desk and the buy-in
Casino Niagara · poker room
- Your nameon the list for your game
- A tableone seat empty
Your name is on the list in the Casino Niagara poker room, and you can see an empty seat at a table. What do you do?
- Sit down: the seat is empty and your name is on the list An empty seat may already belong to the next name on the list; at Casino Niagara the call from the brush comes first.
- Ask a player at that table to hold the seat for you Seats are given out from the list by the brush, not held for you by players at the table.
- Wait for the brush to call your name At Casino Niagara, a player is not seated until the brush person calls that player’s name.
The brush is the person at the desk who seats players, and at Casino Niagara the brush is the only way into a seat.
Every moment in the practice run is one step of the same path, from the desk to the first hand, and every answer comes from the rule of the room the moment names, or from the sign of the example table.
How the practice run works
Where the answers come from. Every right answer is the rule of the room the moment names, or the sign of the example table, and every wrong answer is one named mistake: taking a seat the list did not give, a buy-in outside the posted range or outside the plan, a phone used with cards in hand, another room’s rule carried into this one.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one moment of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a moment you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Three quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. Between the door and the first hand come three questions at the desk, your name on the list, a buy-in inside the posted range and inside your plan, and the seat the list gives you. The rest of the first hour is that room’s own rules.
Rooms, help and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Poker (17.0 Texas Hold’em, 33.0 No Limit and Pot Limit) · BCLCThe rules a B.C. poker room deals by: blinds, the button, the order of play, the rake, the showdown, side pots, table stakes and what makes a bet binding.
- Poker Texas Hold’em · Loto-Québec, Casino de MontréalHow a hand goes in the Montréal poker room, the hands from the royal flush down, and what decides between two equal hands.
- Niagara Casinos General Poker Rules · Casino NiagaraOne Ontario room’s house rules: the waiting list, phones, string raises, the single-chip rule and who shows first.
- Poker at Casino New Brunswick — House Rules · Great Canadian EntertainmentA full set of house rules from one room, including when a ruling can still be asked for and how long you can be away from your seat.
- Poker Room Rules of Play · Parq CasinoA Vancouver room’s short list: one player to a hand, cards speak, show one show all, and what counts as a bet.
- How to play poker · OLG PlaySmartGetting a seat through the brush, what a buy-in, a rake and a session fee are, and why a budget comes before the table.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every room on this page is a poker room you can walk into, and every rule is the rule of the place named beside it: the rules for casinos in B.C., or one room’s own house rules. PlaySmart is a guide published for Ontario, not the rule of a room; where a room and the guide differ, the room’s rule comes first. The Casino de Montréal page is a summary of that room’s main rules, and nothing here says more than the summary prints.
Numbers. The blinds, the buy-in range and the plans of the example table are not any room’s stakes and not a suggested amount. The Parq Casino stakes, the shares and caps of the room’s fee, and the minutes and hours of the waiting lists are the ones each room or rule prints; the fee figures are read from the same rules by our poker engine, which lesson 7.10 uses to count the fee pot by pot. How many hands a live table deals in an hour is only a reading of ours, in lesson 7.10, so nothing here is counted by the clock.
What the tables leave to the desk. Where a row says ask the desk or ask the dealer, the room’s own pages we could read print no rule for that point; a room may still have one, and its desk will say.
What is deliberately absent. What the room’s fee comes to over many hands is lesson 7.10. How the blinds, the button and the betting rounds work is lesson 7.2; what binds you once you act is lesson 7.4; the showdown, table stakes and side pots are lesson 7.5; tournament buy-ins are lesson 7.11; a break and when to leave are lesson 7.13. Setting the limit for an evening is lesson 0.2 and the Game plan tool.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Maya and Leo are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former floor supervisor and a former dealer, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Poker in a room is played against the other players at the table, and the room charges for the table. Knowing the path to a seat makes the first visit calmer; nothing on this page is a way to come out ahead, and nothing here says how an evening at a table would end.
How the room is paid
Depending on the type of poker, this may include a “rake” or “session fee”. These types of fees are how casinos make money on poker games.
Think of them like rent you pay for your spot at the table.
This is a commission paid to the House that allows a player to remain in the game.
The amount of money the house takes from a hand of poker.
A set fee for participating in a game of poker paid in half-hour increments.
A session fee is a predetermined amount typically paid every 30 minutes
Players will pay session fees even if they are away from the table at the time of collection.
The dealer or floor person will collect the fee from their chip stack.
The players will pay session fees even if they are not present at the table at the time of collection.
3. PAY THE SESSION FEE: Once at a table, you'll need to pay a commission known as a "rake" or "session fee" to play.
“rake” means the amount of gaming chips representing smaller values, gaming plaques representing larger values or coins collected by a dealer as poker revenue;
Section ss. 2 and 110(1)
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
The buy-in
The house shall post a minimum buy-in amount.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 4.1.1 to 5.1
When you enter a game, you must make at least the minimum buy-in for that table limit.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
The amount of chips you can buy when you join a game, expressed as a minimum and maximum.
The buy-in will vary by type of game.
Players will often choose a game based on the minimum or maximum buy-in at a table.
For example, at a table with a $1/$2 bet limit, a common buy-in range might be $50 minimum and $300 maximum.
See the cashier to obtain chips in exchange for cash equivalent to the amount of the initial bet required to be seated at a table.
Poker chips can be purchased at the designated cage/cashier.
Minimum buy-in for all fixed limit games are ten (10) times the Big Blind amount, all rebuys will be (5) times the Big Blind amount, unless otherwise posted.
No short buy.
The fee at rooms with their own rule
All games will have a rake of 10% to a maximum of $20.
No Flop No Rake. Minimum $2 rake after the flop.
All games will have a rake of 10% to a maximum of $20.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Pickering Casino Resort — Poker · read
4/8, 10/20, and 20/40 – 10% rake, to a maximum of $10.
10% rake, to a maximum of $15.
No Flop No Rake. Minimum $2 rake after the flop.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casino Mohawk and Brantford — Poker · read
Casino Regina rules and rake rates will apply.
Casino Regina · Poker · read
Phones at the table
When a player has a live hand, they must not use a phone or electronic communication device. Players may not talk on the phone at the table.
Smart watches cannot be used when a Player has cards.
Devices must be inaudible and must not disturb play.
The use of electronic devices is prohibited at the table.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Talking or texting while playing a hand is strictly prohibited.
Phone calls may be taken provided the players push back from the table.
Use of small electronics at the table is permissible, if the player is not in the hand.
Not every casino has a poker room
Texas Hold'em Poker is not currently available at Fallsview Casino Resort. However, the Poker Room at Casino Niagara (Level 2) offers Texas Hold'em and is open daily from Noon to 3:45 am.
How rooms run the waiting list
First, go to the poker room counter to be assigned a table. If all the tables are full, an assistant will put your name on a waiting list that is posted on a nearby screen.
Visit the poker desk, located on level two in the Grandstand Casino to receive a pager which will notify you when a seat is available.
No-shows will automatically be removed from the system after 10 minutes.
*Registered players who do not check in after ninety (90) minutes will automatically be removed from the system.
Before any player can sit down at a table, they’ll have to visit the poker podium and talk to “the brush”, aka the person who controls seating in the poker room.
If space is available at the game you want to play, you’ll be seated immediately.
If not, the brush will place you on a waiting list and let you know of an opening on a first-come, first-served basis.
Some casinos let you call ahead to put your name on the list.
You then have a window of time in which you’ll have to check in to the poker room to keep your reservation.
A waiting list will be kept for all Poker games. Players may reserve a seat by having their names placed on the list for the game of their choice. Players will be called when a seat becomes available.
Players may not be seated unless the brush person calls their name.
Proceed to the reception desk located inside the Poker Room to register with the Poker Supervisor.
If there are no seats available your name will be added to a list.
Hold’em Poker Call In #
Must check in at the Poker Brush within 2 hours
The stakes are posted
Betting ceilings, including the amount of blind bets, shall be established and clearly posted prior to game commencement.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
1/3, 2/5, 5/10 and 10/20 No Limit Games.
20/40 Omaha ½ Kill Limit Games.
2/2 & 5/5 Pot-Limit Omaha.
$1/$3 NL Min $100 Max $300
$2/$3 NL Match the Stack Min $100
$2/$5 NL Min $300 Max $1,000
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casino Mohawk and Brantford — Poker · read
$1/$2 PLO ($300 min buy-in – no max) – Straddle Optional
$1/$3 No Limit Hold'em ($100 min buy-in to $500)
$2/$5/$10 No Limit Hold'em ($400 min buy-in to $2000 – mandatory straddle)
Parq Casino · Poker · read
Limit games range from $1–$2 to $100–$200. No Limit games range from $1–$2 to $10–$25.
Casino Regina · Poker · read
Table minimums and selection of available games are dictated by business volumes.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino Nova Scotia Halifax and Sydney · read
*All Poker game variations and limits are only offered if sufficient interest and tables are available.
The buy-in
The house shall post a minimum buy-in amount.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 4.1.1 to 5.1
When you enter a game, you must make at least the minimum buy-in for that table limit.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
The amount of chips you can buy when you join a game, expressed as a minimum and maximum.
The buy-in will vary by type of game.
Players will often choose a game based on the minimum or maximum buy-in at a table.
For example, at a table with a $1/$2 bet limit, a common buy-in range might be $50 minimum and $300 maximum.
See the cashier to obtain chips in exchange for cash equivalent to the amount of the initial bet required to be seated at a table.
Poker chips can be purchased at the designated cage/cashier.
Minimum buy-in for all fixed limit games are ten (10) times the Big Blind amount, all rebuys will be (5) times the Big Blind amount, unless otherwise posted.
No short buy.
How the room is paid
Depending on the type of poker, this may include a “rake” or “session fee”. These types of fees are how casinos make money on poker games.
Think of them like rent you pay for your spot at the table.
This is a commission paid to the House that allows a player to remain in the game.
The amount of money the house takes from a hand of poker.
A set fee for participating in a game of poker paid in half-hour increments.
A session fee is a predetermined amount typically paid every 30 minutes
Players will pay session fees even if they are away from the table at the time of collection.
The dealer or floor person will collect the fee from their chip stack.
The players will pay session fees even if they are not present at the table at the time of collection.
3. PAY THE SESSION FEE: Once at a table, you'll need to pay a commission known as a "rake" or "session fee" to play.
“rake” means the amount of gaming chips representing smaller values, gaming plaques representing larger values or coins collected by a dealer as poker revenue;
Section ss. 2 and 110(1)
Province of Nova Scotia · Casino Regulations (Gaming Control Act) · read
The fee in B.C.
The Dealer shall collect a fee of up to 10% of the wagers bet per game, to a maximum of $15.00 from the pot.
Table fees may be collected at the end of each betting round or at the end of the game.
Fees shall be rounded down.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 8.1 to 8.1.2
The fee at rooms with their own rule
All games will have a rake of 10% to a maximum of $20.
No Flop No Rake. Minimum $2 rake after the flop.
All games will have a rake of 10% to a maximum of $20.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Pickering Casino Resort — Poker · read
4/8, 10/20, and 20/40 – 10% rake, to a maximum of $10.
10% rake, to a maximum of $15.
No Flop No Rake. Minimum $2 rake after the flop.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Elements Casino Mohawk and Brantford — Poker · read
Casino Regina rules and rake rates will apply.
Casino Regina · Poker · read
A new player waits for the button
A new Player to the game shall not receive a hand between the blinds. They shall wait for the button to pass.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 4.1.1 to 5.1
Phones at the table
When a player has a live hand, they must not use a phone or electronic communication device. Players may not talk on the phone at the table.
Smart watches cannot be used when a Player has cards.
Devices must be inaudible and must not disturb play.
The use of electronic devices is prohibited at the table.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Talking or texting while playing a hand is strictly prohibited.
Phone calls may be taken provided the players push back from the table.
Use of small electronics at the table is permissible, if the player is not in the hand.
Bets outside the pot
No individual or player shall be permitted to wager on another Player's hand (i.e. no back betting).
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
Side wagers are not permitted.
Other players’ chips
Only one player is permitted to play or act on a live hand.
Players shall not deliberately act out of turn, stall, angle, juice other players, or reveal the contents of their hand before showdown.
Players are permitted to play at one table and one seat at a time only. Only one person may play a hand.
No one is allowed to play another player’s chips. Posting for another person is not allowed.
Exposing a hand may result in a dead hand.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
A Player shall not be permitted to play more than one position, nor more than one hand in any round of play.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
No discussion of hands in play in multi-handed pots.
Playing over and Substitute Players is not permitted.
No one may play another player's chips.
Ask the dealer
House Rules will govern poker gameplay at Parq Casino.
Parq Casino · Poker · read
This text gives a summary of the main rules regarding Poker Texas Hold’em.
For more detailed information, please consult Québec’s By-law respecting casino games. In case of a discrepancy between the rules in this text and those in the By-law, the rules in the By-law prevail.
And remember—if you have any questions, feel free to ask the dealer. They’re there to help!
A budget before the table
Set a budget before sitting down to a table and stick to it.
Consider using cash only and leaving credit cards at home.
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