A pot in poker is the total amount of chips/money wagered by the players in a single hand. The last player to hold a live hand or the player showing the best hand at a showdown wins the entire pot. You can also have a split pot when a few players have identical cards and share the chips.
In games like Texas Hold’em, the pot is started by forced bets, i.e., blinds and (sometimes) antes. Otherwise, a hand would start with an empty pot, not giving players much reason to get involved.
Knowing how much money is in the pot at any point throughout the hand is important for a number of reasons. In pot-limit games, this is the maximum amount one is allowed to bet, but even in no-limit variants, bets are usually sized in relation to the size of the pot.
