Poker is a card game played by two or more players and involves betting between each other. It is often called the national card game of America and its play and jargon permeate American culture.
There are many different variations of poker, but most share the same basic rules. The objective of the game is to win a pot (the sum of all bets placed in a single hand) by having a high-ranking poker hand. A player may also bluff other players in an attempt to win the pot without having a strong hand by raising bets. These bluffs are based on the principles of probability, psychology and game theory.
Before a hand begins, each player contributes a small amount of money into the pot, usually by placing chips in front of them. This is called an ante. The amount of money in the pot is important to understand because it helps to determine how strong or weak a hand is and whether it is worth continuing with it.
Once a player has a sufficient number of cards, they can decide to continue with their current hand or fold it. To do so, the player must say “call” or “raise.” In a call, a player simply calls the amount of the previous bet and continues in the hand. If they raise, they add more to the bet and other players must either call or fold. There are a few types of poker hands, including a pair, three of a kind, four of a kind, and a flush.