java poker game nullpointer

Question

I'm getting a null pointer exception for this and I'm not sure why

public static boolean hasPair(Card[] cards) {
    int k=0; 
    cards = new Card[5]; 

    for (int atPos = 0; atPos<5; atPos++){ 
        for (int atPos2 = atPos+1; atPos2<5; atPos2++){ 

            if(cards[atPos].getValue() == cards[atPos2].getValue()){ 
                k++; 
            }
            if (atPos2 == (cards.length-1) && k!=1){ 
                k=0;
            }
            else if (atPos2 == (cards.length-1) && k>=2){ 
                return true; 
            }
        }
    }
    return false;
}

My method is testing whether or not my hand of cards has two cards that hold the same value and the nul pointer says it's within this line

if(cards[atPos].getValue() == cards[atPos2].getValue()){ 

I also have this method...could i use it as a helper?

public Card[] deal(int numCards) {  
    Card[] newArray;
    newArray = new Card[numCards]; 
        for (int index=0; index<numCards; index++){ 
            newArray[index] = cards.get(0);
            cards.remove(0); 
    }
    return newArray;
    }

Answer 1

In second line you create a new array of objects Card. Every object in that array is null, so you need to fill the array first.