Poker is a card game played by two or more players. Each player places chips (representing money) into the pot at the start of each betting round. Depending on the poker variant, a white chip is worth the minimum ante or bet; a red chip is worth 10 or more whites; and a blue chip is worth 20 or more whites.
During the betting rounds, each player may bet by raising or folding his or her hand. The player with the best poker hand wins the pot. Players may also bluff, betting that they have a superior hand when in fact they do not. If other players call the bluff, the bluffing player wins the pot.
A poker hand contains five cards. A high poker hand is made up of cards of a higher rank than the other players’ hands. A high poker hand can be made up of three or more cards of one rank and two cards of another rank, called a pair; four cards of consecutive ranks, called a straight; or five cards of the same suit, called a flush.
In the early stages of the game, a good poker hand is comprised of pocket kings or queens with an ace on the flop. However, don’t be too attached to your hand because the board can often spell trouble even for these strong hands. The flop often contains plenty of pairs and flushes and you can easily lose to a superior hand if the board is full of them.