In the game of poker, the players place forced bets, called “blinds”, before the cards are dealt. The dealer shuffles the deck and cuts the cards into two groups called “small” and ‘big”. The dealer deals one card to each player, rotating the blinds with each new round of play. Once the cards have been dealt, the hands are formed and the players try to win the pot. To break a tie, the highest pair or high card wins.
The game has a very simple premise: players place their chips into the pot voluntarily, without thinking about the future. Unless they’re trying to bluff another player, they have to play the cards that they’ve been dealt. The odds are in the hands of the player placing the chips, and there is no way to influence the outcome. Hence, the probability of winning a hand is determined by the cards the player receives.
In standard poker, players use a 52-card deck. In this game, the cards are ranked from A (high) to J (low). The Aces are worth one, two, or four. The red chip is worth ten, twenty, or thirty whites. The blue chip is worth two, four, or five reds. To play poker, players must purchase chips to “buy in”. Typically, they buy in for the same amount of chips.
