AT THE RIVERFORGE TABLE

How to play Riverforge Poker

Start with three cards. Keep two. Help create the river. Riverforge is a free browser poker game that adds one hidden decision to familiar Hold’em betting.

All games use virtual chips. You can play solo against AI opponents without signing in. This is the Riverforge variant: its extra starting card and shared river pool change the decisions you would make in standard Texas Hold’em.

A hand, from the deal to the showdown

1. Receive three private cards. Players post blinds and receive three cards each. The first betting round happens before any community cards appear.
2. See the flop. Three community cards are revealed. Players can check, bet, call, raise, or fold as the action allows.
3. Keep two cards and contribute one. Every player still in the hand chooses one private card to place face down in a separate river pool. Your choice stays hidden. You keep the other two cards for your final hand.
4. Seal the river pool. One unseen dealer card joins the contributed cards. Once the pool is sealed, your contribution remains a possible river even if you fold later.
5. Play the turn. The fourth community card comes from the original deck. Another betting round follows.
6. Draw the river. One card is randomly drawn from the sealed pool as the fifth community card. Players complete the final betting round.
7. Show the best five-card hand. Remaining players use any five cards from their two retained cards and the five community cards. Standard poker hand rankings decide the winner. If everyone else folds, the remaining player wins without a showdown.

An example of the extra decision

Suppose you hold A♠, K♠, and 7♦. Keeping the suited ace and king means contributing the seven. That seven could become a community card for everyone. A different choice might preserve a made pair, remove a card from your private hand, or give the pool a candidate that helps an opponent. You know your own contribution, but you do not know the other hidden candidates.

Ring tables and tournaments

Ring: blinds stay fixed for the table. Career buy-ins come from your virtual wallet, and you can cash out your remaining play chips between hands. AI opponents may rebuy. Living Table adds fictional regulars who arrive, leave, and manage their own session budgets.

Tournament: players start with equal event stacks and blinds rise at the chosen pace. There is no re-entry. Choose winner takes all, or a top-three virtual prize structure at tables with four to nine seats. Event stacks have no Ring cash-out value.

All-ins, ties, and side pots

An all-in player still makes a hidden contribution before private hands are revealed. Players can win only the pots they contributed to. Equal best hands split the relevant pot; suits do not break ties. An uncalled excess bet is returned to its owner.

Start with a guided hand

Open the game and choose Play a guided first hand to learn the sequence. Free practice lets you repeat hands without spending your career wallet. Once the river-pool decision feels familiar, try a Ring table or a tournament.