Poker is a card game in which players wager chips (representing money) by putting them into a central pot during betting intervals. A player may make a bet by placing a number of chips into the pot equal to or greater than that placed by any player before him. If he declines to do this, he forfeits his chance of winning the pot and discards his cards. This action is known as “dropping.”
The game’s popularity surged in the 21st century, when a combination of factors including the invention of the hole-card camera and broadcasting of major tournaments turned the game into a spectator sport. Expert players rely on information from hidden cards to exploit their opponents, using their own behavioral cues and knowledge of how other players play the game to help them win.
Players can also use a variety of mechanisms to misinform each other, such as betting small with weak hands and raising large with strong ones. These actions can be interpreted as bluffs or signals of weakness, and may be used to intimidate other players into folding before the showdown, where all remaining players reveal their hands.
The game is usually played with poker chips, each colored to indicate a different amount. The lowest-valued chip is white, worth a minimum ante or bet; a blue chip represents the same value as five whites, and so on. Each player purchases a set of chips at the beginning of the game.