Poker is a card game with millions of fans, and a wide variety of variants and strategies. It is a game of chance, but also relies heavily on skill; good players learn to read the other players’ bets and body language. They also use their knowledge of math, statistics, and psychology to make informed decisions.

At the start of a round, the players place a bet into the pot (also called an ante). Then they are dealt five cards and may decide to call, raise, or fold. The player with the best 5-card hand wins all of the money placed as bets in that round. A player can also choose to make a special all-in bet, depending on the rules of that particular poker game.

Each poker game has a dealer, who is responsible for shuffling the deck and dealing the cards. This person can be a non-player or one of the players at the table. Often, the dealer is identified with a special chip.

A few poker games have blind bets, which happen before the players are dealt their cards. These bets are not part of the ante, and are usually determined by a combination of probability, psychology, and game theory. Then, there are the betting intervals, which depend on the poker variant being played. During these betting intervals, one player, as designated by the rules of the poker game, has the privilege or obligation to place chips (representing money) in the pot if he believes that his bet has positive expected value or wants to bluff others for strategic reasons.