Poker Hand Buy-In is a term used in poker to refer to the amount of money that a player must put up in order to be eligible to play a hand. The term is derived from the ante, which is the minimum amount of money that must be put up by each player before the cards are dealt. The ante is usually a small fraction of the total buy-in amount, and it is used to create a pot for the players to compete for. The buy-in amount is typically determined by the stakes of the game, with higher stakes games requiring larger buy-ins.