Official poker is a type of card game played with chips at a casino. The chips are standardized and are available in several denominations, with white being the lowest value chip.

Players buy into the game by purchasing a set number of chips. The amount of money required to play is usually set at the beginning of the event by the management.

During the game, the player’s cards are visible to all other players. These cards must be held in full view, above table level and not past the edge of the table.

The poker game has a long history, dating back to the 1700s in America and Europe. In the United States, it spread to riverboats and into Wild West saloons in frontier settlements during the 1870s and 1880s.

Rules for poker games vary by location, but in general the game involves betting against other players and then using hole cards to form the best possible hand. The winner is the person with the best combination of five cards.

There are several different poker variations, all of which use a standard deck of 52 playing cards. The most common is Texas hold ’em.

Generally speaking, betting begins on the first riffle or push of the shuffler button or on the dealer’s push. If a hand starts at a prior level by mistake, it continues on that level after substantial action occurs (Rule 36).

In pot-limit and no-limit play, players are allowed to raise the amount of their bets until a single player reaches the house limit. In pot-limit, players can also check to waive their right to raise until a bet has been made by another player, and then they may increase the amount of their bet when it is their turn to act.