Official poker is a card game played in a casino or poker room by players who have paid a tournament entry fee. The rules are standardized and the games are run by a floor person (a casino employee).
A player is given two hole cards and is allowed to use them in combination with the five community cards that are dealt face-up on the flop, turn, and river to construct a poker hand. A player may also raise a bet during each betting round in hold’em and Omaha. Players can also bluff to try and get other players to fold their better hands.
The first player to act during a betting round is the player sitting to the left of the dealer button. Players can choose to check, bet, call the bet of another player, or raise (or re-raise). When all players have either matched the highest bet of a player or folded, the betting is over and the chips that were bet in this round are put into the pot.
The number of chips a player receives depends on their finishing position in the tournament. Only a small percentage of players will receive any money, with the majority receiving nothing. Unlike cash games, in a tournament the chips represent real money and are only lost or won within the limits of the prize pool.