Poker is a card game that involves betting between players and is played with a standard 52-card English deck. It can be played with as few as 2 people and as many as 14. The object of the game is to win the pot, which is the sum of all bets placed during a single round of betting. This may be achieved either by having the best hand at the end of a showdown, or by making a bet that no other player calls.
The most common hand in poker is a straight. It is made up of 5 cards in sequence and must contain at least one high card. Other types of hands include pair, three of a kind and two pairs. These combinations have different values and can be used to make bluffs.
To begin a hand, each player places chips in the pot (representing money) according to the rules of the particular variant being played. The player to the left of the big blind begins the betting, and then each player must place in the pot an amount equal to or higher than the total contribution of the player before him.
During the betting phase, players take turns clockwise around the table revealing their hands. The player with the best hand wins the pot. In some poker variants, players can also choose not to reveal their hands, which is known as folding. This allows players to compare the strength of their hands with those of other players and to bluff.
