Poker is a card game in which players place chips (representing money, for which the game is almost always played) in a pot and then reveal their cards. The player with the highest hand wins the pot. Players may also bluff, betting that they have a good hand when they do not. If other players call the bet, the bluffer must either reveal his hand or concede.

There are many different poker games, but most share some basic rules. The game is played from a standard pack of 52 cards (with some variants adding jokers or wild cards). The suits are spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs; the ace is high, but no suit is higher than another. Some games have wild cards, which can take on any rank and suit, or specific ranks and suits (deuces, one-eyed jacks, etc).

When a hand is revealed, the player with the best possible five-card combination wins the pot. A pair is two cards of the same rank; three of a kind is three cards of the same rank; four of a kind is four cards of the same rank; and a flush is five consecutive cards of the same suit. If more than one hand has the same rank, the hands break ties according to the rules of High Card.

In a fixed-limit game, raises are limited to a specified amount during each betting interval; for example, two chips before the draw and four after. A side pot is established for each player who does not make a full hand in the final betting round; the winner of this pot is determined by the highest rank in his exposed cards.