Poker is a game of chance played with cards. It has a variety of variants, and it is one of the most popular card games in the world.

The rules of poker vary widely from country to country, but most versions have the same basic set of rules. Each hand begins with the first player to act making a forced bet, called an ante. The action then proceeds clockwise until each player has made at least as much money as the previous bettor, or folds and loses all of his bets.

A player who bets, but no opponents choose to call (match) the bet, is said to bluff. Bluffing is a key element of the game, and it may also help players to win if other players hold better hands than they do.

Various other strategies are used to improve a hand, including discarding certain cards and trading others. The player with the best hand at the end of the hand wins the pot.

The game can be played with cards or chips, and it can be played online. It is usually a fast game that requires little time to learn.

A hand of five cards, called a poker hand, is the primary object of the game. The value of the hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency; that is, the more unusual the combination of cards, the higher the hand ranks.