Poker is a popular card game that has been played for centuries. It is a competitive game of skill and strategy, but it also includes a lot of luck.

Poker can be played by two to seven players, with the best games involving five or six people. There are hundreds of variations, but the fundamentals remain the same.

In a typical poker game, a player places an amount of money, called the ante, before being dealt cards. The ante usually equals the minimum bet or a certain number of chips, depending on the rules of the game.

Once the ante has been paid, each player is dealt cards face up. These are called hole cards and the player must keep them concealed from other players.

Each player then makes a bet in the next betting interval. During the interval, other players can raise or fold their bets. The betting interval ends when all the players have either put in exactly as much as they had before or have dropped their bets.

There are several types of hand in poker, but the most common are four-of-a-kind (or quads), three-of-a-kind and two pairs. If one or more players have two pairs, the winner is determined by which pair has the highest rank, regardless of suit.