The Pot (Poker)

The pot in a game of poker refers to the amount of money that is wagered by players during a single hand or game of poker in accordance with whichever poker game or variant you are playing.

During any game of poker, throughout any one hand there are rounds of betting in which players will play with the sole purpose of getting every other player to fold or being the player with the strongest 5 card poker hand at the showdown.

The player, who wins the hand, takes down the pot and the total sum wagered (the accumulation of the pot). A new hand would then be dealt. In poker as the value of the pot increases during a particular hand, betting patterns often change with players becoming more aggressive in attempts to scare other players off their hands.

There are high-low games where there can be two winners in each hand, one player who has the highest hand and the other who has the low hand (all cards under 8). Of course in these games, there would only be a low hand winner if the hand qualified. If only high hand qualified the one player would take down the entire pot – this is known as scooping the pot.