The game of Poker is played with a set of playing cards called poker chips. A poker hand can have more than one card, but the lowest value is the white chip. The red chip is worth five whites, and the blue chip is worth two, four, or five reds. In a game of poker, the players “buy in” by buying a set of chips. Each player must buy a chip for the same amount, so a winning hand can be determined by comparing the ranking of each player’s cards.
Usually, each player contributes to the pot before the game begins. The first player to make a bet is called the ante. The next player to make a bet is said to call, while the player who bets more than the previous bettor is called a raiser. Lastly, a player who checks or stays in without betting is called a checker. In either case, the player must make sure no other player has bettied or raised. When all players have checked or raised their chips, the betting interval is over.
There are many variations of Poker. Some games have fewer cards, such as Three-Card Monte, and others require more than ten players. For more than 10 players, two separate games can be played. In addition to standard poker, there are variants involving community cards. Badugi, for example, has a low value for aces. Its main differences from standard poker include a lowered value for aces, and the fact that players can draw only four cards at a time instead of five.