A game of Poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, although some variant games may use multiple packs or add wild cards (jokers). Each card has a rank (high to low) and suits, and the highest hand wins. Players may bet on their own hands or on the hands of other players. They also may bluff, in which case they make a bet that they do not hold the best hand and hope that players will call them with superior hands.
Each round of betting in a Poker game begins when one player, in turn, puts an initial contribution, called an ante, into the pot. Then each player in turn must either call that bet by putting the same amount into the pot, or raise it. Players can also fold their hand and leave the pot, or a player may re-raise a bet made by another player.
In this way, players can manipulate the value of their hands in each betting interval, and maximizing winnings with good hands while minimizing losses with poor ones is the core skill that Poker requires. The application of this skill can, in fact, eliminate the effect of luck over time.