Poker is a card game of chance that requires an element of luck but also a fair amount of skill and psychology. It is a great way to test and improve your ability to read your opponents, learn to be patient, and keep your cool under pressure. It is also a great social game that allows you to meet and interact with people from all walks of life.

The goal of the game is to form a high-ranking poker hand and win the “pot” – the total of all bets made during the hand. The pot is won by the player with the highest hand when all players have revealed their cards.

Each player begins a hand by first ‘ante’ something (the amount varies by game but in our games it is usually a nickel). They then are dealt 2 cards face down. The betting starts with the player to the left of the dealer and continues in a clockwise direction.

Once all players have their cards, they begin to reveal them one at a time. Each player then makes their best 5-card poker hand based on the ranking of those cards. A straight contains 5 consecutive cards of the same rank. A flush contains any 5 cards of the same suit that skip around in rank or sequence. A full house is 3 matching cards of the same rank and two unmatched cards. A pair is 2 cards of the same rank and 1 unmatched card.