Poker is a card game in which players place bets based on the strength of their hand, which consists of five cards. The value of a hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency, meaning that the more unusual the hand, the higher its value. Players may bet that they have the best hand, or bluff by betting that they do not, with the goal of convincing other players to call (match) their bets.
Players reveal their hands in a final betting phase. The player with the best hand wins the pot of chips. There are many different variants of poker, but they all share certain common features.
Each player starts with two cards that are hidden from other players. Then the player to his left places a bet, which is called posting the blinds. Then the dealer deals three cards face up on the table that all players can use, this is called the flop. Players then take turns raising or folding their hands.
To win a poker hand you must make the highest value 5 cards hand from your own 2 cards and the community cards. A high hand can be either a full house (3 matching cards of one rank), a flush (5 consecutive cards of the same suit), or a straight (4 cards of the same rank in sequence but from more than one suit). Occasionally you can have an Ace High Straight, which is a high value poker hand.