Poker is a card game with a variety of rules and strategies. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards (though some variant games use multiple packs or include wild cards). A poker game involves betting between players. A player may choose to “call” a bet, raise it or fold. Each player must put the same amount of chips into the pot as the player before them if they decide to call or raise.

The aim of the game is to form a hand based on the card rankings in order to win the pot, which is the sum of all bets placed by the players in each betting interval. The pot is usually won by the player with the highest-ranking hand at the end of each betting round.

It is important to understand how to read other players and watch out for their tells, which are nervous habits like fiddling with their chips or a ring. A good poker player will be able to identify his opponents’ weaknesses and exploit them by raising when the opportunity arises.

In most games, each player must purchase a certain number of chips before the game begins. A white chip is worth one unit, a red chip is worth five units and a blue chip is worth either 10, 20 or 25 units depending on the game. Some games also have special chips called wild cards that can take on whatever suit and rank the player desires.