Poker is a card game for two or more players. It can be played in many different ways, but all of them involve betting and the sharing of cards in a hand. In most cases the highest hand wins the pot. Players can also bluff, making false bets in order to win a pot from players with weaker hands by deceiving them into thinking that they have a strong one.
In most forms of the game players place an initial bet (the amount varies by game) before they are dealt cards. Each player then has the option of raising that bet or folding his or her hand. The game can be played with as few as 2 players, although it is more common to play with 6.
Once all players have their 2 cards (called their hole or pocket cards) there is a round of betting. Then 3 cards are dealt face up in the center of the table, called the flop. These are community cards that any player can use to make a 5-card poker hand.
A royal flush consists of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit, such as Ace-King-Queen-Jack-Two. A straight is a sequence of 5 cards that skip around in rank but are all from the same suit. Four of a kind is three matching cards of the same rank, such as A-K-Q-J-T. Two pair consists of two distinct pairs of cards, such as AK5243. High card breaks ties when no other hands are made.