A game of Poker is played with chips, almost always of the same color. There are usually three colors: red, blue and white. The white is worth the least amount of money, while the red chip is worth ten or twenty or 25 whites. To begin the game, players “buy in,” by purchasing chips from the dealer. They must each purchase the same number of chips. If you have more than seven players, you will need to supply all the chips.

Each player may cut the deck more than once, but the dealer is usually the one to shuff the deck. When more than 10 players remain, the dealer will shuffle the deck. The dealer’s button position is called the “dealer’s position” and will pass the stack of cards to the next player to their left. If there are more than ten players, two separate games will be organized. In addition to cutting, each player may bet.

The player in first-to-act position sits immediately to the left of the big blind and the button. If the player doesn’t fold, the dealer will have the option to call the hand. In some cases, a player can raise and/or call again. A player in first-to-act position will have a significant statistical advantage. A player may choose to check instead of make a bet, but this decision can be costly.