Poker is a card game that requires skill and strategy. It can be played with two to fourteen players, depending on the type of poker.

The Dealer passes out a set of cards, called a deck, and each player makes a bet in turn. During betting, a player may choose to Fold, Check, Call, or Raise.

To Fold, a player must put no chips into the pot and surrender their hand, losing whatever bets have been made in the pot so far. To Check, a player must bet exactly as much as the previous bettor in the round.

In some variants of Poker, a player may raise their bet by adding more than the previous bettor’s amount. This is known as raising the ante.

A player who raises the ante may not be required to make another ante, but may raise more than the ante at any time. The ante may be set at an agreed amount or determined by each player individually.

The dealer then passes out the next set of cards, called a Turn. This is the first of four betting intervals in a poker game.

Each time a player makes a bet, all players in turn must either “call” the bet by putting into the pot the same number of chips; or “raise,” which means that they are putting into the pot more than the previous bettor.

The player with the best hand wins half of the pot, and the lowest hand wins the other half. In Hi-Lo games, the low hand must have at least five cards below eight to qualify.