The pot in poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 refers to the sum of money that players wager during a single hand or game, according to the betting rules

Betting (poker)

In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...

 of the variant being played. It is likely that the word "pot" is related to or derived from the word "jackpot

Progressive jackpot

A progressive jackpot is a jackpot for a gaming machine where the value of the jackpot increases a small amount for every game played...

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At the conclusion of a hand, either by all but one player folding, or by showdown

Showdown (poker)

In poker, the showdown is a situation when, if more than one player remains after the last betting round, remaining players expose and compare their hands to determine the winner or winners....

, the pot is won or shared by the player or players holding the winning cards. Sometimes a pot can be split between many players. This is particularly true in high-low

High-low split

In traditional poker games, the player with the best traditional hand wins the whole pot. Lowball variations award the pot to the lowest hand, by any of several methods...

 games where not only the highest hand can win, but under appropriate conditions, the lowest hand will win a share of the pot.

See "all in" for more information about side pots.