Official poker is a card game with a lot of psychology, social dynamics and strategy involved. It is a game of chance, but there is a great deal of skill involved when betting is involved (though some people still claim poker is purely a game of chance).
The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, plus jokers in some games. There are four suits, and the rank of each card is Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There is a high and low poker hand, and the highest hand wins. If two hands are equal in value (for instance, both have a full house), a side card, called the kicker, comes into play to decide the winner.
There is an international organization that manages the rules of poker, the professional Tournament Directors Association (Poker TDA). This group meets every two years to review and approve new rules. Having one set of universal poker rules is helpful as the game becomes more and more international, and it helps avoid misunderstandings and conflicts.
Breaking poker rules can be difficult, partly because the rules are not always clearly defined. A few months ago, a streamed event saw Ali Imsirovic peeled up Paul Phua’s hole cards, an action that many felt was against poker rules but which is not technically against the rules unless definitive proof can be provided.
In another incident, a player named Natalie Teltscher was discovered to be using her sister’s account to play in a $2,500 WCOOP event. This would have broken both poker rules and partypoker’s terms of service, and a long legal battle ensued.