Poker is a card game where players place bets to compete for a pot of money. It is played in various forms throughout the world, including North America, and is popular in private homes, in casinos, and over the Internet.

Poker games can be played with a single deck of cards, or more often with multiple decks. In most poker variants, the best hand wins the pot.

In standard poker, each player is dealt five cards, and the value of the hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency; that is, the more unusual the combination of cards, the higher it ranks. There are ten kinds of poker hands, as described below:

The highest possible hand is called the Royal Flush and consists of 10 cards of one suit. The next highest hand is called the Straight Flush and consists of five cards in a single sequence, regardless of suit.

There are a few other types of poker, as well, such as Omaha and Stud. These games are different from standard poker and require a great deal of strategy.

During the deal of a hand, each player must place in the pot the number of chips (representing money) that is specified by the particular variant being played. In each betting interval, the first player and every other player in turn must make a bet that amounts to at least as much as the last bet made in that interval.