Poker is a card game in which players wager their chips on the outcome of a hand. It is a game of chance, but it also requires skill in making decisions and reading opponents. In addition, a good understanding of probability and game theory is necessary for success. A good poker player knows how to minimize losses with weak hands and maximize winnings with strong ones.

In the game of poker, a hand consists of five cards. The value of a poker hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency (the rarer the combination, the higher the hand rank). Players may place bets that they have a superior hand and win money from other players who call their bets. Players can also bluff, in which case they are attempting to fool other players into thinking they have a better hand than they actually do.

During each betting interval in a game of poker, one player – designated by the rules of the particular variant being played – places an amount of chips into the pot. This is called the ante. Each player thereafter has the option of calling the ante or raising it. Players who raise the ante are said to be “all-in.”

The game of poker has many variants. Some are simpler, such as three-card brag, a popular gentleman’s game around the time of the American Revolution, and some are more complex, such as stud poker, where cards are dealt in a series of face-down or face-up rounds, called streets, and betting occurs after each round.