Poker is a card game played by a group of people. The goal is to make the best 5-card hand. The player with the best hand wins the round and all of the money in the pot. If there is a tie, the players with the best hands split the money in the pot. The game is played until one player has won all of the money that was put down as buy-ins at the table.
There are many different poker variations, but they all have betting intervals. The first player to act, as designated by the rules of the specific poker variant being played, has the privilege or obligation to place chips (representing money, for which poker is almost always played) in the pot during each betting interval. Other players can choose to call the bet, raise it or drop their cards and fold.
A player may also “check” to remain in the game without betting, provided no one before him or her has raised a bet in that betting interval. If the check is made, that player must call any bet that is raised by the player to his or her right.
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck including a joker, known as the bug, which counts only as a wild card for certain hands. A full house consists of three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank. A flush consists of five consecutive cards of the same suit. A straight consists of five consecutive cards in the same suit but that don’t match.