Poker is a card game in which players wager against one another by placing chips (representing money) into the pot before seeing their cards. The object is to win the pot by having the highest ranking poker hand. Players may also bluff, betting that they have a superior hand when they do not, in order to deceive other players into calling their bets.
The rules of poker vary by variant, but most share certain common features. For example, a hand must consist of five cards and have a value in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency; the more rare a hand is, the higher it ranks. Moreover, each player is dealt two cards, and must decide whether to call or raise.
Before the cards are dealt, players must place a fixed amount of chips into the pot, depending on the game variant. These are called the antes, blinds or bring-ins. These forced bets create a pot and encourage competition.
After the cards are dealt, players take turns revealing their hands. The player to the left of the dealer begins this process. Each player must then put into the pot a number of chips equal to or higher than the chip placed into the pot by the player to his or her left.
For instance, say you receive a pair of kings off the deal. You would then either hit, stay or double up. If you have a high value hand, you would say stay.
