Poker is a card game in which players place chips into a pot and then reveal their hands. The player with the best hand wins the pot of money. Depending on the variant of poker, there may be several betting phases during a round. In addition, there are rules for how the winnings are shared at the end of the game.
Poker has become increasingly popular since the early 21st century, partly due to television coverage of poker tournaments. The invention of the hole-card camera allowed viewers to follow the action and drama of a hand, and broadcasts of such events as the World Series of Poker have attracted large audiences. The game is played in a variety of formats and has many different rules, but the basic principles are similar across variations.
A typical poker game consists of an initial round of forced bets (antes or blinds) followed by the dealing of cards to each player. The number of cards dealt varies from one game to the next, but in all cases there are two cards that each player holds, known as their hole cards, and then a series of five community cards, which are dealt face up in three stages: a sequence of three cards, known as the flop, an additional single card called the turn, and finally another single card, the river. Players must bet during each of these stages, and a player who does not bet may fold his or her hand.
Once all the cards are dealt, the remaining players then take turns revealing their hands. Usually there is a final betting phase before the showdown. During this period, players can bet against each other in various ways, such as by calling the raise of a previous player. This is known as bluffing, and the ability to bluff is considered a key skill in poker.
The game also offers many mechanisms for players to strategically misinform each other about the strength of their hands, for example by putting in small bets to keep a pot growing, or by raising larger bets when they have weak hands. In addition, players can choose not to reveal their cards at all, but if they do so they cannot win the pot.
In most games, players are matched against opponents of roughly the same skill level. This reduces the influence of randomness in the outcome of a hand, and it takes longer for differences in skill to appear. However, there are exceptions to this rule, and some people do choose to play for high stakes, even though this can be a very risky proposition.