Poker is a family of card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to the game’s rules. The game is played worldwide and in some places the rules may vary.
Poker typically consists of several rounds of betting. During each round of play, players’ hands develop by being dealt additional cards or replaced with ones previously dealt. The player who has the best hand at the end of a round wins the pot.
The first betting round begins with a forced bet, usually an ante or a blind bet (sometimes both). The dealer shuffles and deals the cards.
A betting interval ends when all the players have put in exactly as many chips as their predecessors or when they have withdrawn from the game. After the final betting interval, players’ hands are shown face up on the table and the best hand wins the pot.
Tournament chips are distinguished from cash game chips by the color of each chip. For example, eight white chips represent T$25 each.
Casinos and cardrooms use poker chips to track stack sizes in cash games and tournaments, and to help determine how many chips are on hand at any given time. The values on poker chips do not correspond to actual dollar amounts, so most tournaments report chip counts by prefacing the number with T$.
Players are free to take their non-tournament chips home or off the table during a tournament, but they must keep all higher-denomination chips on the table throughout the event. Any player who removes tournament chips from the table before the end of the event will be disqualified.