A poker game is a card game played between two or more players. It can be played for money, prizes or other tokens of value. It is played with chips that vary in value according to the rules of the game. The most common chips are white, black and red. Each player has a starting amount of tournament chips that they receive at the start of the event. A player may not transfer or trade these tournament chips into cash or other tournament chips at any time during the event.
Most poker games are played with a standard 52-card pack, sometimes with the addition of one or two jokers. In some games, especially among the best players, a second deck is used to speed up the dealing. This additional deck is shuffled while the original deck is being dealt. When the cards from the deck have been dealt, the shuffled deck is passed to the next dealer. When a dealer deals a card that is clearly exposed, the procedure for replacing it varies with the poker form.
Many poker tournaments are held in commercial establishments where the venue charges a fee for hosting the event and also withholds a small portion of each player’s buy-in to cover the cost of running the poker room. Most of the rules in this rulebook are adapted from the “Robert’s Rules of Poker” authored by Robert Ciaffone, better known in the poker world as Bob Ciaffone, a leading authority on cardroom rules. The general philosophy in this rulebook is to provide rules that are sufficiently detailed so a decision-maker will know the proper ruling for each situation.