When a poker player sits down at a table and has no real chance of winning, he or she is referred to as "dead money," meaning that the money they have invested into either the tournament or the cash game is just going to go to another player. You certainly don't want to be dead money in a card game, and one way to avoid that is to be as knowledgeable as possible about the game, including dead hands.

If you were to do something against the rules, your hand could be declared "dead" which means that it is out of the game and can't win the pot, even if it turned out to be a royal flush.

In order to avoid making your hand a dead hand, you should become familiar with the rules governing this topic. Some of them will seem pretty obvious (and they are) but for the sake of complete information, all the rules will be included.

First of all, if you fold your hand, it is dead - this includes if you say "fold" in the face of a bet or a raise, even if after you say "wait! I changed my mind!" If you look at your cards and then toss them too far in front of you, and the player behind you takes an action, guess what? You just folded your hand, and it is dead. And if you happen to be playing stud poker, you can't even take your cards off the table to look at them when facing a bet - you need to peak at the corners, or they are dead. If you accidentally expose one of your down cards, your hand is dead - which is the reason players cap their cards with chips or a personalized card protector during a hand they want to play.

Take your time and pay attention when you play - the last thing you want to happen is to kill your pocket aces with an accidental slip of the hand or tongue.