Poker is a card game in which players place wagers against one another with the objective of winning a pot. There are many variations on the game, but they all share a common core of rules. The game is played with a conventional 52-card English deck, and the cards can be dealt either face up or down depending on the game.
The dealer shuffles the cards, and the player to his right cuts them before dealing each player two cards. In some games, the highest card decides which hand wins; in others, ties are broken by higher pairs (two matching cards, e.g. two sixes) or by a full house (three of a kind and a pair).
Once each player has two cards, there is a round of betting that may involve all or only some players. Before the cards are dealt, one or more players may be required to put an initial amount of money into the pot – these are known as forced bets and are usually in the form of antes or blind bets.
As the play progresses, players may raise the stakes by placing additional bets or by folding their hands. A player can also draw replacement cards to improve their hand. Depending on the rules of the game, some cards are community, and these can be shared by all players. If a player has a strong poker hand, they can win the pot by betting aggressively and forcing other players to fold.