Poker is a card game played by a group of players around a table. Each player puts a set amount of money into the pot, called bets. There are usually mandatory bets made by the players to the left of the dealer (called blinds). These bets ensure that there is always a pot worth playing for and create an incentive for people to play. After these bets are placed, each player is dealt 2 cards face down which they keep hidden from the other players, these are known as a player’s hole or pocket cards. 3 more cards are then revealed at the center of the table, these are called the flop and are community cards that can be used by all players to make their best 5-card hand. Once these community cards are dealt there is another round of betting, starting with the player to the left of the dealer.

When the final cards are revealed, the player with the highest ranked 5-card hand wins the pot which contains all of the chips that were bet during the hand. If there is a tie for the highest hand, then the higher rank of one of the pairs breaks the tie.

In addition to luck, the success of a poker game is highly dependent on the skill of the player. This means knowing how to read other players, their tells and predicting what type of hands they might have.