Poker is a card game played with chips (representing money) by two or more players. The game involves betting between each other and the eventual winning of all chips by a player with the best five-card hand. There are many different poker variations, but they all share a number of common features.
In most poker games, each player must put some amount of chips into the pot before he or she receives any cards. This is called the ante. Players may also choose to raise the ante before they act. If a player raises the ante, everyone else must call it or fold his or her cards. If all players call the ante, that player has the best poker hand.
Once all the bets are in, the dealer deals three additional cards face up on the table that anyone can use to make a poker hand. This is called the flop. This is when you have the chance to change your mind about what hand you are holding if you think that your original hand is not good enough to win the pot.
The most valuable hands in poker are the full house, which contains 3 matching cards of one rank, and 2 matching cards of another rank, plus a single unmatched card; straight, which is any 5 cards that skip around in rank or sequence, but are all from the same suit; and pair, which is two distinct cards of the same rank, including a high card which breaks ties.