Poker is a card game that is played by two or more players. The game has many variants, but all involve betting and forming a five-card hand. The highest hand wins the pot. The game can be played with a standard 52-card pack, or some games include jokers or other wild cards.

Before the hand begins, players must place a bet. This is called an ante. Some games also require a blind bet. This can be in addition to or replace the ante, and is usually made by the player to the left of the button.

Once the antes have been placed, each player is dealt two cards face down (hidden from other players). Then 3 more cards are revealed in the center of the table. These are the community cards. Each player uses these along with their 2 personal cards to form a poker hand.

When the betting phase starts, players must either call, raise, or fold. When a player calls, they match the last bet or raise. If they raise, they must continue to bet until they have all-in, which means they have placed all their chips into the pot.

In most cases, the winner of a poker round will win all the money that was put down as buy-in at the table. However, sometimes there are ties among the best poker hands. In these cases, the poker game usually has rules for how the prize money is shared between the players.