The Basics of Poker

Poker is a card game played by two or more players. There are several variants of the game, but each is based on a basic set of rules. The main goal of the game is to make the best possible hand out of five cards, and to win a pot by doing so.

The first player to deal a hand begins by taking a pack of cards and dealing them face up, one at a time. This process is repeated until a jack appears.

When the dealer is finished, the shuffled deck is passed to the next player to deal. This procedure is often used in clubs and among top players, where two packs of contrasting colors are used to speed the game.

Generally, a high card beats a low card, and a straight or a pair of aces beats a pair of queens. However, some games allow the ace to be treated as the lowest card in the hand, so that 7-5-4-3-2 beats 6-4-3-2-A and a pair of aces beats three of a kind.

Poker is played using a standard 52-card deck, sometimes with additional cards – known as jokers – inserted. The decks are shuffled in rotation to the left for each deal.