Poker is a card game that requires you to beat your opponents by accumulating cards in the best possible order. The most common poker hand is called a straight, and consists of four cards of the same rank, plus an ace. A straight can be either high or low, and in some games, the ace has no rank. In the event of a tie, the higher card is considered the winning hand.
Although poker is a game of chance, it has some skill involved in betting and psychology. The goal of this primer is to give you a basic understanding of how the game works. Detailed information about poker strategy is available in books, but it is advisable to play with a group of people who know how to play the game.
When playing poker, you can play with any number of players, but six to eight players are the most common. Each player places a bet on the table, which is called the pot. A player with the best poker hand wins the pot if he bets more than anyone else. This is also true for side pots.
The objective of poker is to create the best hand possible. In seven-card stud, the best hand is the highest five-card combination. The players then face off in the betting phase, where the best hand is revealed.
