Poker is a card game played by two or more players with chips that can be bet on each hand. There are many variants of the game, but in most forms the object is to have the highest-ranked hand when all betting intervals have ended. The winner of the hand takes all of the bets that have been placed into a central pot.

In most cases, a player must place a mandatory bet called an ante or blind bet before they can make any other bets. Once everyone has matched this bet, the dealer shuffles the cards and deals them to the players one at a time starting with the player on their left. The players then have a chance to check (pass on betting), call (match the raise of their predecessor) or fold.

Once all players have two cards in their hand, a further three community cards are dealt face up in stages known as the flop, turn and river. The players then have a further chance to bet money on their hands or to “fold.”

The highest-ranked hand is five of a kind, which consists of four cards of the same rank and the remaining card being an ace. If more than one hand has five of a kind, the higher card wins (Five Aces beats four Kings, which beats five Queens, and so on). Players should also pay attention to the size of their opponents’ chip stacks – short-stacked players will be desperate for a win and are therefore easier to bluff against.