Poker is played all over the world, and like most other games and sports it has an official set of rules. The official poker rules are managed by the professional Tournament Directors Association (also known as the Poker TDA). This organization has 2,500 members in 63 countries who manage large live and online casinos, circuits, poker leagues or independent tournaments. The TDA meets every two years at the “Poker TDA Summit” to review the rules and put in place new reforms.

While the official poker rules are the final arbiter of all rules, it is customary for individual clubs or groups to make their own house rules to suit local customs and preferences. This is encouraged as long as these do not cause significant delays or interfere with the game. These house rules should be written down and shared with all players in the room.

If a player violates the official poker rules, they may be subject to sanctions or even expulsion from the table. These include repeated delays, unnecessarily touching another player’s cards or chips, acting out of turn, exposing a card with action pending, and poor card or chip visibility and countability. In addition, a player should not use a hand, chips or other object to cover their cards to protect them from being exposed.

Lastly, it is important to be aware of the unwritten poker rules that are a part of the game. Some of these rules include not discussing your hand to other players or offering advice, especially when you are losing. This is called angle shooting and it can easily give away the strength of your holding.