The Basics of Poker

Poker is a card game in which players compete to form the highest value hand possible from the cards they are dealt. The game traditionally involves betting in rounds, with the winning player collecting a pot of cash or poker chips.

The game starts with one or more forced bets, usually an ante and blind bet placed by two players to the left of the dealer. The cards are then shuffled and dealt to the players in clockwise order. Players can choose to open the betting or check if no one else has raised. They can also fold if they think that their hand is weak or even a bad one.

Each player then chooses to discard and draw 1 to 3 new cards from the bottom of the draw pile. They can also choose to hold pat and not draw cards if they have a good hand. The final card is then dealt face up – the river. Another round of betting takes place and the best 5 card hand wins the pot including all the bets made at each previous round.

A royal flush is a hand consisting of all five cards in consecutive rank and from the same suit. A straight is 5 cards that skip around in rank but are all of the same suit (for example 5-6-7-8-9). Three of a kind is three matching cards of one rank, plus two matching unmatched cards. High card breaks ties.