Poker is a card game that involves betting on the strength of your hand. It can be played in both cash games and tournaments. The aim is to win the pot – all the bets placed on one deal – either by having the highest-ranked hand or by continuing to raise your bets until other players drop out of the hand. In some cases, you can also win the pot by bluffing.
Each player is dealt 2 cards face down, which are hidden from the other players. A round of betting then begins, which is initiated by the two mandatory bets called blinds placed into the pot by the players to the left of the dealer.
After the pre-flop betting phase, 3 cards are dealt face up on the center of the table – these are called community cards and can be used by every player to build their best 5-card hand. Another round of betting then begins, starting with the player to the left of the big blind.
In most poker variants, the player who bets the most chips in a betting interval is said to open the betting. Depending on the rules of the game, some number of raises is usually allowed during each betting interval, with the limit (usually two or four chips) increasing in the final betting interval (the “turn” and “river”). The winner of the hand is then revealed. In many poker variants, the winning player takes all the chips in the pot.