Before beginning play, every player has a right to shuffle the pack; the dealer has a right to the last shuffle. After being shuffled, the pack must be cut by the player to the right of the dealer.
The player to the left of the dealer then stakes a certain fixed sum (generally small in comparison with the limit) which is called the "ante." This initial stake must in every game be laid by the player to the left of the dealer, before the cards are dealt. He is, in fact, identified with this initial stake, and is known as "ante" throughout the game.
After "ante" has staked, the player to his left, who is called No. 1, has the option of "straddling," _i.e._ of staking a sum double that of the ante. If No. 1 does not straddle the ante, no other player may do so, and the dealer proceeds to deal the cards.
If No. 1 straddle the ante, the player to his left has the same option, and may increase the straddle by the amount of the ante. This may go on round the table, each player in turn having the right to increase the straddle before the deal; but the ante may not be increased by any straddle, or by successive straddles, to an amount exceeding one-half of the limit.
To illustrate this, let us suppose the limit be two shillings and the ante be one penny. This latter sum is staked (_i.e._ placed in the middle of the table before him) by the player on the left of the dealer. No. 1 then has the right to straddle the ante, and he may stake two pence. No. 2 then has the same option, and may, if he wish, increase the straddle by one penny. When the sum staked in this way by successive players reaches one shilling (half the limit), the straddling must cease, and the cards must be dealt. [33] It should be fully understood that if No. 1 does not exercise his right to straddle, no other player may do so.
The dealer, beginning with the player at his left hand, then deals one card, face downwards, to each player (himself included) in succession, until every player has received five cards.¹ He then places the remainder of the pack before him on the table, face downwards. After the cards have been dealt the betting before the draw begins.
¹ These five cards constitute the "hand," and in no case may a player have a greater or less number of cards than five.