Poker is a card game in which players wager money on the outcome of a hand. The objective is to maximize a player’s winnings while minimizing a player’s losses.

There are many different variations of the game, but most of them have a common set of rules. The first rule is that all players must “buy in” by placing a specified number of chips into the pot.

Each player is dealt a hand of five cards. These are known as the “pairs” and the rest of the cards are “the table.”

The game is played over a series of betting rounds in which a player may raise or fold. At the end of the round, a showdown is held, where all the hands are revealed and the player with the best hand wins the pot.

In some forms of poker, the game may be played with a special fund called the “kitty.” The “kitty” is built up by cutting (taking) one low-denomination chip from each pot in which there are more than one raises. The kitty is then divided equally among the players who are still in the game.

A common rule in Poker is to call, which means that a player must match the amount of a raise by raising their own stake. If a player chooses to call and another player then raises, all the other players must also call the new raise or fold.