Poker is a card game in which players wager an amount of money (or chips, representing money) on the possibility of forming a particular hand. A player may choose to raise his stake or fold, and can also bluff by betting that he has a better hand than he actually does (i.e., make a bet without having the cards necessary to form a good hand). Players also use bluffing in combination with raising and folding to create strategic conflicts on the table.

The game can be played with one or more decks of cards, and a set of standard poker chips. Each chip is worth a specific amount, with the lowest-denomination white chip typically being worth a single ante or bet; higher-denomination chips are usually worth five whites, ten reds, twenty blues, and so forth. Depending on the rules of the variant of poker being played, a player may choose to place all or part of his stake in a pot created by the earlier bets of other players, known as a side pot. If a player wishes to remain in the pot, he must raise his bet by at least the amount of the previous raiser; otherwise, he is entitled to leave the pot. If he leaves the pot, he forfeits any rights in the original pot or any side pots. This is a standard rule that is designed to prevent “cutting” the pot.