Poker is a card game in which players place bets into a central pot before each deal. The object is to win the pot, or at least enough bets to make it higher than everyone else’s. Players may fold, call or raise. If they raise, they must make a bet that is at least the amount of the last bet and any previous raises.

Each player is dealt cards from a standard 52-card deck, and each card has a rank (high, low, or neutral) and suit. The highest ranking hand wins the pot. Some games use multiple packs or add wild cards.

The dealer shuffles the cards, and then the player clockwise to their right cuts. They then begin dealing the cards to the players one at a time, according to the rules of the game.

After the first betting round, a player with a good poker hand will often raise bets to convince others that they have a strong hand and to get them to fold. This strategy is known as bluffing, and it can be very effective.

After a number of rounds, the remaining players show their cards and the player with the highest-ranked hand wins the pot. Some poker variants have side pots for high and low hands, or for specific card combinations such as a full house or a straight. Other variants may use wild cards or jokers to allow the players to play a variation of the game.