Poker is a card game in which players bet against one another, placing chips into a central pot. A hand comprises five cards. Each hand’s value is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency—a rarer combination of cards is worth more than a common one. Players may also bluff, betting that they have the best hand when they do not, hoping to win the pot by forcing other players to call their bets. The game can be played with two or more players, but the ideal number is six to eight.

There are many variations of poker, each resulting from changes in the rules and the cards dealt. Most of these variants involve dealing a complete set of cards to each player, with a betting round following each deal. Some, such as seven-card stud, deal extra cards to some players. The goal of the game is to make the best five-card poker hand.

Each player may then choose to fold, call, or raise his or her bet. The player who puts the most money into the pot wins. The amount of the bets may vary from game to game, but in general bets are placed voluntarily by players who believe that a bet has positive expected value or who wish to bluff other players for strategic reasons.

The first round of betting is over, and you have a pair of kings off the deal. Brad keeps two of his cards, and Charley discards one (dealing replacements to everyone). When the second round of betting begins, you ‘check’ (a term meaning that you don’t call a bet if you don’t owe anything to the pot). Everyone calls Dennis’s raise, which you re-raise a dime, or twenty cents in total.