Official poker refers to the game of poker that is regulated by an organization called the Tournament Directors Association (Poker TDA). The poker TDA is an organization of poker managers at live and online casinos, circuits, leagues and independent poker tournaments. The poker TDA meets every two years to discuss and put in place new rules that ensure the game is played fairly and honestly.

Each player must play within their limits, meaning that they can only gamble with the amount of money they have available. They should also be playing against players who are at or below their skill level, as this will help them to improve their game and become better at poker.

In a game of poker, each player is dealt a hand of cards that belong to them alone, known as private cards or hole cards. These cards are then combined with the five community cards that are dealt to form a poker board. The objective is to make the best poker hand possible using your own private cards and the shared community cards.

The standard poker pack has 52 cards, sometimes with the addition of one or more jokers. Some variant games have specific wild cards that can take on any suit or rank, while others specify which ones are wild (dueces, one-eyed jacks, etc).

Players must protect their hands, either by putting their hands or chips over their cards to prevent them from being seen by other players. This is an essential part of poker etiquette and must be followed at all times. Verbally declaring a raise or call is binding, and players may not bet more than what they have stated.