Poker is a card game that involves betting between players. Each player has two cards, and the player who has a higher hand wins the pot. Players may raise their bets, call them, or drop their hands. The goal is to win money by making the best five-card hand. There are many variants of Poker, but they all have the same basic rules.

In addition to betting, players may bluff, or make bets that they don’t have the best hand, hoping to scare off other players who are holding superior hands. Bluffing can be risky, but it can also increase a player’s chances of winning. Players can also call the bluff of others, and winning is based on the relative frequencies of the hands.

Each round, or betting interval, begins when one player puts in a number of chips into the pot. This number is equal to the minimum ante or bet. Each player must either match or raise the amount of the bet by putting in a equal number of chips into the pot, or they can fold their hand.

The game’s most common hands are pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, and straights. A pair consists of matching cards, three of a kind has three cards of the same rank, and four of a kind has four cards of the same rank (but different suits). A straight consists of five consecutive cards in the same suit.