Poker is a card game played in a casino or in a home game with friends. The game is governed by a set of rules that ensure fairness and equitable play. Some of these rules include a set blind structure and instructions for color-up chips. Poker chips are used to represent money amounts during play and to provide a common language of betting among players. Poker chip values are generally the same at casinos and in home games, though some establishments use different values for different denominations of poker chips.

Poker games are divided into two broad categories: stud and community card games. In stud poker, each player receives a combination of face-up and face-down cards in several rounds of betting. There are several variants of stud poker, such as five-card draw and seven-card stud. In community card poker games, each player has an incomplete hidden hand combined with shared face-up cards.

The rules governing these games differ from one format to another, as do the strategies for winning. In general, players must ante something (the amount varies by game) to get their cards dealt and to start the betting. Players then place their bets into a pot in the middle. The highest-ranked hands win the pot. Players may not talk on their phones at the table and must respect other players’ privacy. Ring tones, music, video, or betting apps are also prohibited. The TD will decide how to treat a skipped hand that was not announced before substantial action came after the player, including ruling it dead or limiting its action.