Poker is a card game where players wager money, called chips, on the outcome of a hand of cards. The game has a variety of variants and is played in most places where gambling is legal. The game became popular in the United States during the American Civil War, when it was introduced to riverboats on the Mississippi River. In the early twentieth century, poker spread to other countries.
In poker, the goal is to make a winning hand consisting of five cards. A player’s two personal cards, called hole cards, plus the four community cards on the table form his or her hand. Depending on the game and the rules, additional cards may be drawn to replace cards in the hand. A player’s hand may be made up of a pair, three of a kind, a straight, or a flush.
Depending on the game, one or more players must place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. This is called making a forced bet, and it can take the form of an ante, a blind, or both.
After the forced bets are placed, the cards are shuffled and the dealer deals them to each player in turn. Each player then decides whether to call a previous player’s raise or fold. If a player does not call, they lose the amount of money they have already invested in their hand and any further bets.