THE DECK AND CARDS
The game of poker is conducted with a fifty-two card deck consisting of four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) of thirteen ranks each (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.) Some forms of Draw and Lowball are played with a fifty-third card, known as a joker or bug. (See Article Seven of Caro & Cooke's Rules for more details regarding the use of the bug.) Except for the special case of the bug, there are no wild cards in any poker game spread in a public cardroom, although wild cards are not uncommon in private home games where such variations as baseball and deuces wild are played. Subject to an occasional exception arising from the rules of a particular game an Ace can serve as either the highest card (above a King) or the lowest card (below a deuce) or both, as the player holding the Ace may decide. Each player is dealt a pre-determined number of cards, depending on the variation of poker being played.

SUITS
Unlike other card games, such as bridge, in poker one suit does not have superiority over another suit except in a few situations, which are discussed subsequently. Suits do not count in the ranking of hands. Thus, a flush of one suit does not take priority over a flush of another suit by virtue of which suit it is. Suits can be used in determining the lowest or highest card for a forced bet, assign-ing seats, resolving disputes, etc., as more fully set forth elsewhere in Caro & Cooke's Rules. For these purposes only, suits are ranked alphabetically, from lowest to highest (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, with Spades being the highest.)


THE POT
The game is a contest for a pot of money, which builds in the course of play of each hand. The game begins as a battle for the blind bets or antes--money the players put into the pot be-fore they see their cards. As players receive their cards and consider the strength and potential strength of the hands they hold relative to the hands they believe their opponents hold and other variables, they commit additional money to the pot by making and calling bets and raises. The process of betting, calling and raising continues through a number of betting rounds until all the cards been dealt pursuant to the rules of the game, or one player is left after all others have folded. After the last card has been dealt there is a final betting round.


PLAYER ACTIONS
The contest of the game of poker is made up of five possible player actions: Check, Bet, Call, Raise and Fold. (See Definitions at Article 18 for more specifics on the five basic actions of poker.) Which player acts first, and what the player's choices are depend upon the rules of the particular game, as more fully hereinafter described.


START OF THE HAND
The hand begins when the dealer has awarded the pot from the previous hand, gathered in all the cards, scrambled the cards and begun the shuffle. Once the first riffle of the shuffle begins the hand is in play, and may not stop until the end of the hand. (See Article __ of Caro & Cooke's Rules for more details regarding the shuffle and start of the hand.)