Poker is a card game in which players wager money on the chances of making a winning hand. The game has many variants, but the most common are cash games and tournament play. In a cash game, each player buys in for a specified amount of chips. These chips are usually in denominations of white, red and blue chips, each worth a different amount. The white chips are worth the minimum ante, the red chips are worth the blind bet and the blue chips are worth an additional bet.

Before a single card is dealt, two mandatory bets, called blinds, are placed into the pot by the players to the left of the dealer. These bets provide an incentive for players to participate in the hand and ensure that there is always a pot to win.

During each betting interval, players can choose to call (match) the amount bet by the player to their right, raise it or fold. If a player folds, they forfeit any money they have put into the pot for that round.

The cards are then reshuffled and a new betting round begins. After a few rounds of betting, all players reveal their hands and the player with the best five-card hand wins. In practice, this results in a relatively homogeneous distribution of skill levels at the table; better players tend to play for higher stakes, while poorer or beginning players may prefer smaller stakes.