Poker is a card game played by two or more players. The goal is to win a pot by having the highest hand. The rules of the game vary slightly depending on the variant being played, but most games involve betting into a common pool. The best hands are made up of five cards in a row, with the highest being a royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace) or straight (five consecutive cards of the same suit). Some games also use wild cards which can be any rank or suit.
Each player must “buy in” with a minimum amount of chips to participate in a hand, called the pot. Players bet in a clockwise order. When the betting comes around to you, you must choose whether to raise your bet or fold. A raise requires you to put the same amount of money in the pot as the person before you. A fold means you don’t want to call the bet and you will not play your hand.
The by-play between players is what makes poker interesting. You need a variety of ways to get your opponents on edge so they can’t guess what you have in your hand and so that your bluffs can get through.
A good poker player can make a big pot with a weak hand by using deception. One form of deception is a semi-bluff, where a player with a weak but likely to improve hand bets strongly in the hope of encouraging other players to fold better hands.