Poker is a card game in which players place an initial amount of money into the pot before cards are dealt. Each player then has the option to call, raise or fold. If a player calls, they must put the same number of chips into the pot as the person to their left; if they raise the bet, they must make it higher than the previous raiser or leave the pot. Depending on the rules of the game, there may be one or more side pots in addition to the main pot.

Each player is dealt two cards and aims to form the best five card “hand” using those cards and the five community cards on the table. The highest hand is a royal flush, consisting of four consecutive cards of the same rank and suit. A straight is three matching cards of the same rank and a pair is two matching cards of the same number.

The game is played with chips of various denominations, usually white and red in a standard color scheme. A chip is worth the amount of money it is designated to represent; for example, a white chip is worth one dollar while a red chip is worth fifty dollars. The first player to act places a bet, and other players can choose to call or raise that bet, or drop out of the hand (and forfeit any chips they have put into the pot). Each betting round is called a betting street.