The game of Poker is a card-based table game. Players wager money by putting chips into the pot and then revealing their hands at the end of each betting interval (round). The best hand wins the pot. Players can also make bets without revealing their hand and deceive opponents by bluffing.
Each player starts with two personal cards and then builds a five-card poker hand from the community cards on the table by combining them with their own. There are a number of rules about how to do this and the specifics vary by game. Players can also draw replacement cards for their own cards during or after the betting period.
In most games of poker, players must first ante (put in some amount of money — the amount varies by game). After this, each player places their bets into the pot, which is then raised in turn. If a player declines to raise his or her bet, they may “drop” their hand (discard it and not compete for the pot) or they can call (match the amount of money raised).
The best poker hands contain matched cards in ascending rank and sequence. A flush contains 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. A straight contains 5 cards of different ranks, but in a sequence from one to the other. Three of a kind contains 3 matching cards of the same rank. Pair means 2 cards of the same rank and then another unmatched card.