Official poker is a card game played in many variations, involving betting rounds. Some games use only a standard 52-card pack, others may include two jokers or other extra cards. Poker is a popular card game in casinos and card rooms, amongst friends and family, as well as being played on the internet.
Regardless of the poker variant being played, the rules remain relatively similar. Players each receive two cards, face down (these are known as hole cards), and then make a five-card hand using those and the community cards in order to win the pot. The highest hand wins the pot according to poker hand rankings, which are also used in a wide variety of other card games.
After each betting interval, the remaining players expose their hole cards and the dealer determines a winner by counting up the highest-ranked cards. It’s worth noting that although some people consider poker a game of pure chance, there is actually quite a lot of skill involved in winning.
With the huge growth of poker in the last decade, and the advent of televising the game, there is a growing interest in creating a uniform set of rules that all poker tournaments should follow. This would avoid the confusion and misunderstandings that often occur when a player from one country plays a tournament in another country where the rules differ slightly. To this end, a group called the International Poker Federation (FIDPA) has been set up to compile a set of 81 official poker rules, available on their website.