Poker is a card game that may be played by two to seven players. It is a game of chance, but skill and knowledge are important. The goal is to win the pot, which is the sum of all bets placed during a betting round. The pot may be won by having the highest poker hand or by bluffing and making someone else call their bet.

The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, although some variant games use multiple decks or add jokers. The cards are ranked from high to low: ace, king (K), queen (Q), jack (J), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and aces. There are four suits, spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, but no suit is higher than another. A pair of cards is a good hand, especially if they are the same rank. If a hand has a pair but is tied for rank, it is broken by the rules of high card.

During a betting round, one player places chips into the pot (representing money) according to the rules of the particular poker variant being played. This player is then obligated to bet at least as much as the player before him, and each subsequent player must raise the amount of his bet by an increment equal to the increase in the betting interval. This process continues until one player has the highest poker hand, and he wins the pot.