Poker is a card game played by two or more players. The goal is to form the best five-card hand based on the ranking of cards in order to win the pot, which is the sum of all bets placed.

Each player must put chips into the pot (representing money) if they wish to continue betting during a particular round of play. This is called “calling.” A player can also raise the amount of money they are putting into the pot, and this is known as raising. A player who cannot call or raise during their turn discards their hand and is out of the round. The player who wins the pot is the one with the highest-ranking hand at the end of the betting interval.

A “full house” contains three matching cards of the same rank, while a “flush” consists of five consecutively-ranked cards from the same suit. A “pair” consists of two matching cards of any rank, while a “one-eye” is a single unmatched card, such as the joker in the standard 53-card deck, which counts as a wild card.

During the course of a game, players may establish by unanimous or majority agreement a fund, usually consisting of low-denomination chips, that is used to pay for new decks of cards and other expenses related to the game. Any chips left in this kitty at the end of the game are distributed among the players who remain in the game.