Poker is a card game in which players bet money (called chips) into the pot and then reveal their cards to determine a winner. The game is played with a conventional 52-card deck and has many variations. The game involves significant chance but the long-run expectations of players are determined primarily by their actions chosen on the basis of probability, psychology, and game theory.
In the opening betting round each player is trying to gauge the strength of their opponents’ hands and make decisions about how much to bet or not to bet. As the betting rounds progress each player either raises his or her bet to increase the size of the pot if he or she has a strong value hand or bluffs to try to get a weaker opponent to fold and expose his or her hand.
After the first betting round has been completed the dealer puts three additional community cards on the table face-up, called the flop. At this point the player with the highest ranked poker hand can continue to bet, check or raise again.
The dealer then reveals a fourth community card, called the river, and the final betting round takes place. At the end of this betting phase the dealer shows all of the cards to the players and the player with the highest ranked poker hand wins the pot. This process is called a showdown.