Poker is a card game played by two or more people. The aim of the game is to win a pot, or sum of money, by getting the highest-ranked five-card poker hand. Cards are ranked from high to low as follows: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2.

Each player must use chips to make their bets. Each chip is worth a certain amount, usually determined by the color of the chip: a white chip is worth one minimum ante or bet; a red chip is usually worth 10 whites; and a blue chip is worth 20 or 25 whites. One player must be designated as the banker, who keeps the stock of chips and records how many each player has received and how much cash they have paid for their chips. Players may not privately exchange or trade any of their chips.

When a player makes a verbal statement that they are going to take a particular action, such as raising, calling, or folding, they must do so. This rule helps prevent “sandbagging” – the practice of raising without having the best hand.

In a typical poker tournament, the players “buy-in” for a fixed amount of chips. Then, they compete for the prize pool (the pot) based on the strength of their hands and their prediction of how other players might behave. In the end, only a small percentage of players receive any money at all.