Poker is a card game in which players bet against each other and compete for a winning hand. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, and many variations of the game exist. It is also often played with two jokers that serve as wild cards.

Players reveal their hands after betting. The player with the best 5-card hand wins the pot, or sum of money put down as buy-ins at the table. There are usually rules for how this money is shared when the round is over.

In some games, a dealer is responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards, but this role can be filled by any player. A special chip is passed around to designate who is the dealer for each round, which determines certain betting rules. Unlike some other card games, the player in possession of the dealer chip does not have any advantage over the rest of the players.

During the course of a poker game, some players will not be willing to continue betting and will fold their chips. Others may choose to raise their bets in an effort to win the pot. This practice is known as bluffing. The goal of a good poker player is to extract signal from noise, and the best players can make informed decisions based on a range of different channels, including verbal and nonverbal communication, betting behavior, and even behavioral dossiers on other players.

While most poker games end when one player has won all the money in the pot, it is possible that a number of players will have the best 5 card hand. In such cases, the players will share the pot equally.