Poker is a game that requires a lot of psychology and a little luck. It becomes a lot more skill-based when betting is involved, though. Players will only put money into the pot if they believe it has positive expected value or if they are trying to bluff other players for strategic reasons. As a result, there is a lot of room to play around with the rules and strategies of the game, and you can make big changes to your strategy with small moves.
Each player in turn must either call the bet (put into the pot the same amount as the previous player) or raise it. If you decide to raise the bet, you must say “raise” or “I raise.” Players may also choose not to put any chips into the pot, and if they do this, they must “drop” from the hand.
The person with the best poker hand wins the pot. The strongest hand is a straight, which contains five cards in sequence (e.g. J-8-5-3-2). The second best hand is a flush, which has two matching cards of one rank and three distinct cards of another rank. A full house is made of three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another, and a straight flush is a combination of five consecutive cards of the same suit.
Ties in poker are broken by the highest card, except when hands are the same, in which case they are broken by the highest pair, three of a kind, or four of a kind.
