Poker is a family of games that can be played by any number of people. It is played in casinos, poker clubs and private homes. The goal is to wager over the best hand according to game rules. Poker is played in various forms around the world, and is especially popular in North America.
There are three main types of poker: stud, draw and community card. All three involve betting, but the rules vary from game to game. In some variants, the pot is awarded to the lowest hand, while in others the pot is split between the highest and the lowest. A common game is the stud, where each player has a five-card hand, with one face-up card and one face-down card. Another variation is the draw, where players must place an ante into the pot and draw cards until they receive the hand they want.
The first player to put in a bet, called the bettor, must put in a minimum bet. If he raises the bet, he may do so by as much as the amount of the pot. But if he does not, he is said to be “folding”. This means that he has withdrawn his hand from the pot and is not in competition for the pot.
Players may bet the hand they have, or they can bluff by trying to get other players to make a bet. They can also discard up to three cards to keep the number of cards they have to play down to five. Some poker variations allow the player to bet as many chips as he has in his stack, though some will require the player to contribute to the pot before he can start the round.
Most games of poker are played with a standard deck. When the dealer deals out the cards, they are dealt clockwise around the table. During a round of betting, the player who has the best hand wins the pot. Sometimes, a straight is used as the final showdown. Two identical hands may tie and divide the winnings equally. For instance, a five of a kind beats a straight flush.
Traditionally, each player is dealt a card face-down. However, stud and draw poker allow the player to shuffle the cards, and some games even allow the player to deal a second card to himself. Draw poker is usually played with a minimum limit, and in some forms the limit is increased after the draw is complete.
A bet is placed by a player, who then matches the previous bet. Another player then makes a bet, or a raise. After all the players have checked, the turn to bet passes.
A player who has a five-card hand may decide to draw a new card, and is referred to as a “draw” or a “check”. An additional round of betting follows, during which the player can check or bet again. As in most other forms of poker, the player must bet the same amount as the previous bettor, and this is called a “call”.
A third type of poker is a lowball game, where a pot is divided equally between the high and the low. In other games, the pot is divided by a combination of the highest and the lowest hands, as in seven-card stud.
