Poker is a card game in which players place bets (representing money) into a central pot before being dealt a hand of cards. The aim is to win the pot by making a high-ranking poker hand before the final showdown. The game can be played by any number of players, and there are many different variants of poker.

Before a hand is dealt, each player must make a forced bet (usually the ante). The dealer then shuffles the cards, and deals each player five cards, face down. The player to their left begins the first of a series of betting intervals, and each player must either call that bet or raise it. A player may also drop their hand if they don’t want to compete for the pot.

The cards are then revealed one by one in a process called the “river,” after which the players must reveal their hands and the winner is decided. There are many different ways to make a winning hand in poker, but the most common is to have four of the five cards match.

Sometimes, a player will make an all-in bet, meaning that they are putting in all of their remaining chips into the pot. This creates a side pot, and the winner of that pot is separate from the main pot. Players may also choose to check, which allows them to remain in the game without raising their bets, provided that no one before them has raised.