Poker is a card game where players bet on the strength of their hands. The goal is to extract maximum value from winning hands and minimise losses from losing ones. This is known as “min-max”. In a typical hand, each player has two cards face down and one face up. The player with the lowest hand starts betting first, and play proceeds clockwise around the table until all players have had a chance to act.
Each player has a supply of poker chips, which vary in value according to their color. A white chip is worth a minimum ante or bet; a red chip is worth five whites; and so on. The game is played in rounds, and at the end of each round, players must put a specified amount of money into the pot, which is collected by the dealer. This is called a forced bet, and it is usually equal to the minimum antes or blinds for that round.
After the players receive their hole cards, a round of betting begins. Each player can call or raise the bet by putting chips into the pot in turn. Players can also drop out, in which case they forfeit any chips they have placed into the pot.
If a player has a winning hand, they win the entire pot. If there is a tie among the best 5-card hands, then the pot is split among the players who have them. Although the outcome of any individual hand largely involves chance, over time, skillful players are likely to win more than those who do not. This is because they make more bets that have positive expected value and are less likely to bluff.