Poker is a card game where players place bets and try to win by having the highest ranked hand. It is a game that is played in hundreds of variations, but all share some common elements. There are also many unwritten rules of etiquette that players follow in order to make the game more fun and fair for everyone.

The first thing to understand is the basic hand rankings. The highest hand is the royal flush, which consists of a 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of one suit. This can only be beaten by another royal flush or four of a kind. A straight contains five consecutive cards of the same suit (these can be from more than one suit). Three of a kind consists of 3 matching cards, while 2 pair contains two cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards.

In a game of poker, the players put their bets into a pot that is passed around the table until all players are done betting for a given round. The player with the highest ranked hand wins the pot, or all of the bets placed during that round.

The game is typically played with two to seven players, although some games can be played with as few as two people. A deck of 52 cards is used and it is cut by the person to the right of the dealer after a hand has been dealt. After the cutting, each player reveals his or her hand to the other players.