Poker is a game of strategy where players attempt to make the best possible hand out of five or seven cards. The player who has the highest hand wins the pot.
Before the cards are dealt, each player must place a contribution to the pot, called an ante. When the dealers deal, players must take a look at their cards and decide whether to bet, fold, check, or raise.
The first player to make a bet is called the bettor, and a player who exactly matches the previous bettor’s bet is called a caller. A player who bets more than the last bettor is called a raiser.
There are many different variations of poker, but the basic rules remain the same for all of them: The game is played with a deck of cards and chips. The deck is divided into a number of sections; each section contains a specific value of chips.
Some games have a special fund, called a kitty, which is used to pay for new cards or drinks and food at the table. If the kitty is empty at the end of the game, the players who remain in the game share the money from the kitty equally.
The ace is the most valuable card in poker. Other cards rank from best to worst: king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. General rules apply to hands of any rank: When two or more hands tie on the rank of a pair, three of a kind, etc., the high card outside the tie breaks the tie.