Poker is a card game that is played by two or more players. The object of the game is to win the pot, or the sum of all bets made in a hand. There are many different poker games, but they all have the same basic rules. The game is primarily a betting game, but can also involve raising and re-raising bets. It is a game of chance, but it also involves a significant amount of skill and psychology.

In most poker games, players put in forced bets called blinds or antes before being dealt cards. The cards are then placed in a central pile, called the pot. The player with the highest hand wins the pot. In some poker variants, the cards are placed face down, while in others they are faced up.

Before betting begins, the player to the right of the dealer shuffles the deck and cuts it. The player that receives the highest card becomes the first dealer. If no one has the highest card, the position passes clockwise to the next player.

Once the players have their cards, they begin betting in a series of rounds. Each round includes at least one raise. The highest bet in each round wins the pot. The highest five-card hand wins the pot in a single deal, unless otherwise specified.

When it is your turn to bet, you must either match the last bet or raise it. You can also say “I call” to make a bet of the same value as the last bet. You can also fold your hand if you don’t want to risk the rest of your chips.

There are a variety of poker hands, and each has its own value. For example, a royal flush is worth 10 through Ace of the same suit. A straight is five consecutive cards of the same suit. A three of a kind is three matching cards of the same rank. A pair is two identical cards of the same rank, and a high card breaks ties.

A poker player’s style of play can be categorized by his tightness or looseness. Tighter play is associated with better results, while looser play is usually worse.

Tightness is a measure of the percentage of hands that a player voluntarily calls or raises before the flop, compared to the proportion that he actually does. It is an important part of poker strategy, and it is one of the two simple measurements that are commonly used to categorize a player’s style of play. The other simple measure is the percentage of hands that a player calls.