The game of poker has many variants, but the basic rules are the same across all of them. Players use community cards to form a poker hand, which can be composed of two hole cards, one hole card, or no hole cards at all (play the board). Players then place their bets to create a pot and then show their hands one-by-one.

Players make bets with chips of different colors and values. Typically, white chips are worth the minimum ante, red ones are worth five whites, and blue chips are worth ten whites. Before the first betting round begins, each player must “buy in” by placing a specified amount of chips in the pot. This is called the ‘buy-in’ or ‘ante’.

If a player violates any of the official poker rules, it is up to other players to speak up and call the floor over to make a judgment on the situation. The dealer is under immense stress at a table, dealing with a high volume of hands, and they cannot always notice an infraction by another player.

If a player is found to be violating poker rules, they will lose their winnings. This is especially true for cheating. It is very important that you do not cheat during an online poker tournament. Cheating is a violation of the terms of service and can get you banned from the site indefinitely. Among the many cheating techniques are using a cell phone during an event, collusion with other players, and creating a disturbance.