Poker is a card game that requires skill and strategy to win. It is played in a variety of ways, including at home and in casinos. The goal of the game is to have the best five-card hand at the end of the round.

Before a hand starts, each player has to buy in for a set amount of chips. This can be as low as one white chip or as high as five red chips. After buying in, the dealer shuffles the cards and deals each player a complete hand of five cards. Players then place bets in a single round, raising and re-raising as they like.

Some games require players to make blind bets. These bets take the place of or are in addition to an ante. When it is a player’s turn to bet, they can say “call” to raise the same amount as the previous player. They can also say “fold” if they don’t want to raise.

After the flop, the turn, and the river, players reveal their hands. The player with the highest ranked poker hand wins the pot. A full house contains three matching cards of one rank, a flush contains 5 consecutive cards of the same suit, and a straight is five cards in sequence but not necessarily of the same suit.

If a player doesn’t have any of these poker hands, they can still win by raising the stake on the final betting street. This is called “raising the pot.”