Poker is a card game in which players bet on the strength of their cards. The game is played in many variants and has become the most popular form of gambling in North America. It is also a major component of the casino industry and is played in private homes, card clubs, in tournaments, and on the Internet. The game’s rules, jargon, and culture permeate American society. It is a game in which luck plays an important role, but a skilled player can minimize the amount of money lost with poor hands and maximize winnings with good ones.

A player who has the best five-card poker hand wins the pot. The other players contribute to the pot at each betting interval. Players may also bluff, a strategy that reduces the chances of other players calling their bluff.

Depending on the poker game’s rules, an initial contribution, called an ante, is put into the pot by each player before cards are dealt. An initial contribution can vary from game to game, but it typically includes one or more chips of low denomination. Players can add additional chips to the pot during each betting interval, a process known as raising.

When it is a player’s turn to raise, he or she must place in the pot enough chips to equal the total stake of the player who raised before him. If a player cannot raise sufficiently to match the last raise, he or she must fold and forfeit any chance of winning the pot.