Poker is a game of card playing and betting, with a little luck, a good hand can win the whole pot. It is often played with 5 players but can be played with as few as 2 players. Depending on the rules of your game, one or more players are required to place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. These are called blinds.

Once each player has received their two hole cards a second round of betting begins, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. A third card is then flipped over, this is known as the flop and there is another round of betting.

If you have a strong enough hand and have good bluffing skills you can try to force weak hands out of the game by raising your bets. This will make them think twice about putting money in with a bad hand.

A winning hand consists of the best possible combination of five cards. Aces have the highest value followed by kings, queens and jacks. The rest of the cards are ranked according to their suits. If the highest pair are the same rank, then the highest suited card wins.

The player with the highest ranked hand when the hands are shown wins the “pot” which is all of the money that has been bet during the current hand. In the case of a tie, the hands are split.