Poker is a card game played between two or more players. The object of the game is to win the pot, which is the total amount bet by all players in a deal. A player wins the pot by having the highest-ranking poker hand, or by betting so that other players will fold their cards and concede the hand to him. Players can also win by bluffing, which involves acting as though they have a strong hand when in fact they do not.
There are many different forms of poker, but all involve dealing a number of cards to each player and then making bets on the strength of those cards. Some forms of the game require a mandatory bet at the beginning of each hand, called an ante or blind. Others allow a player to raise this bet, which is known as a raise.
In most games, players use chips rather than cash to represent their money. This is because chips are easier to stack, count, keep track of, and make change with. Each chip represents a different dollar amount.
The cards used in poker are a standard 52-card deck with four of each suit: hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs. Most games are played with a minimum of six players. A full house is three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another, while a flush is five consecutive cards of the same suit. A pair is two matching cards of the same rank, while three of a kind is three cards of the same rank and two matching cards of another rank.