Poker is a family of card games that are played around the world. The games vary by the number of cards in the deck, the way they are dealt, and the rules for betting.

In most variants, players place forced bets before the cards are dealt (called a blind bet or an ante). The dealer shuffles the cards and cuts, then deals them one at a time to each player.

The first of what may be several betting rounds is then begun, in which players can place additional bets or fold. At the end of each round, all bets are gathered into the central pot.

A hand in a poker game is the combination of two or more cards that makes the best possible hand for the moment. The highest possible hand is a pair of aces, while the lowest is 7-5-4-3-2 in two or more suits.

Strategy

In poker, players use three main strategies: to see the bets of other players and compare their hands (high bets mean a good hand; low bets mean an inferior hand), to bluff other players, and to play aggressively.

The strategy of bluffing is a type of poker play in which a player tries to convince other players that he or she has a better hand than they do by making a large bet and then folding when no more people call the bet. Sandbagging is another strategy in which a player tries to build a big pot by betting a lot without making other players fold.