🐾Cat PokerAI Kitty Table

💰 Betting Process & Player Actions

In each betting round, players take turns acting in clockwise order. A round ends when all active players have contributed equal amounts to the pot or folded.

• Check: Pass the turn to the next player without placing chips (only possible if no bet has been made in the current round).
• Call: Match the current highest bet made by another player to remain in the hand.
• Raise: Increase the size of the current bet, forcing subsequent players to call the higher amount or fold.
• Fold: Surrender your cards and forfeit your chance to win the pot, exiting the hand. (If a player does not wish to match a bet/raise, they MUST fold; no player or bot can stay in the hand for free).
• All-In (Table Stakes): Wager all remaining chips. A player cannot be forced to fold simply because their chip stack is smaller than a bet or raise. They can call All-In for their full stack.

💡 What happens when everyone Checks? When all active players choose to Check in a round, no additional chips enter the pot. The round immediately finishes, and the next community card is dealt!

💵 Uncalled Bets & Refunds: If you raise and all opponents fold, or if an opponent calls all-in for fewer chips than your raise, the unmatched excess portion of your bet is "uncalled" and is automatically refunded to your chip stack!

🪙 Side Pots Explained: When an all-in player has fewer chips than opponents, the pot is divided into a Main Pot (matched chips up to the all-in amount, which the all-in player can win) and one or more Side Pots (surplus chips between larger stacks, contested only by those who put in the extra chips).

🏆 How does the game end? Play until 1 player wins all table chips, or press End Game anytime to stop where it is and declare a winner based on current holdings (cash & cards). You can press New Game anytime to restart.

🤝 How Ties Are Broken

1. Standard Showdown Hand Ties:

• Same Hand Category: When players share the same hand type (e.g. both have One Pair or a Flush), rank of key cards determines the winner (e.g., Pair of Kings beats Pair of Jacks).
• High Cards / Kickers: If key card ranks are equal (e.g. both have Pair of Aces), remaining high cards ("kickers") are compared in descending order to break the tie (e.g., A-A-K-8-3 beats A-A-Q-J-9).
• Identical 5 Cards: If all 5 cards in both players' best hands match in rank, the pot is split equally (suits carry equal value).

2. End Game / Early Termination Ties:

• Primary Metric (Cash / Chips): Total holdings (chips + active round bet) determines the leader. The player with the highest cash stack wins.
• First Tie-Breaker (Card Hand Strength): If cash totals are tied, active card hands are evaluated by poker hand rank and kickers.
• Second Tie-Breaker (Split Victory): If both cash and card hand ranks are identical (or no cards are dealt), tied players share victory as co-champions!