Poker is a card game played by a group of people sitting around a table. The goal is to win the pot, which is all the chips that have been bet during the hand. To do this, players place an ante (the amount varies by game) and then are dealt cards. After a round of betting, each player shows their cards and the person with the highest hand wins.
To determine your hand strength, you have to consider the type of cards in your pocket and the ones that have already been revealed. You can also use your knowledge of the cards on the board to decide whether to call a bet, raise a bet, or fold.
There are many different types of hands in poker, but the most common are three-of-a-kind (3 cards of one rank with two matching cards of another rank) and a straight (5 consecutive cards of the same suit). A pair is made up of two cards of the same rank and three unmatched cards.
When betting occurs, each player can “check” (place no chips into the pot) or “call” the bet of the player to his left. A player may also raise a bet, meaning that he will place more chips into the pot than the previous player did. If a player doesn’t want to raise, he can “fold” and drop out of the round. When a player drops out of the betting, he forfeits any rights to the original pot and the side pots that he would have contributed to.