Poker is a card game played by two or more players and involves betting. The object is to form the highest ranking five-card hand, winning the pot at the end of each betting round. The pot is the sum of all bets placed by all the players. The highest hand is a royal flush, consisting of four matching cards of the same rank in one suit. The second highest hand is a straight, consisting of five consecutive cards of the same rank in one suit. Other high hands include three of a kind (two cards of the same rank) and two pair (two unmatched cards).

While luck plays a large role in the game, it is possible to improve your chances of getting a good hand by learning how to read other players. This can be done by observing their body language, facial expressions and other tells. Some tells are more obvious than others, such as when a player folds his or her hand to show that they have no cards in their possession.

Each player has two personal cards (his or her “hand”) and five community cards. The aim of the game is to make the best possible five-card poker hand, using both your own hands and the community cards. At each betting interval (as defined by the rules of the poker variant being played) a player can bet by placing in the pot the amount of chips that is at least equal to the amount of money put into the pot by any player before him.