When compared to the major sports such as football, baseball and basketball, poker has emerged as one of the world’s most lucrative tournament games. It is not uncommon to find players walking away with prize money in the millions of dollars. These record-breaking wins have helped to elevate poker’s status in the world of sports.
The game of poker is played with small and big blind bets (forced bets by two players), and antes (forced contributions by all players). Players may only wager the amount of money in front of them at the start of each hand, and cannot buy additional chips between hands. The dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand.
In hold ’em, each player receives two cards known as their hole cards. These are dealt face down. The rest of the community cards are then dealt in stages, consisting of three cards (“the flop”), then an additional single card (“the turn” or “fourth street”), and finally the final card called the river (“fifth street”). Each player seeks to make the best five-card poker hand from their hole cards and the community cards.
Collusion with another player, revealing the contents of a folded hand during a deal, or looking through the discards or deck stub. Stacking chips in a way that interferes with dealing or viewing cards, and verbally giving the amount of a raise in a single motion. During WFP tournaments, players may not use their cell phone at the table unless authorized by the LD.