Poker is a card game that involves betting on the outcome of a hand by each player. A player may choose to call (match) a bet, raise it, or concede. Players with superior hands are generally favored, but players can also win by bluffing if other players do not call their bets. Although there are many variants of the game, most poker games share certain essential features. The game originated in North America and has become a popular pastime in casinos, homes, and over the Internet. It has been called the national card game of the United States, and its play and jargon permeate American culture.

The game is played for an amount of money or chips contributed by the players themselves, known as the pot. Individuals compete for the pot based on the strength of their own poker hand and their prediction of what their opponents are holding and how they might behave. A poker hand comprises five cards that are dealt face up to the players. The value of a poker hand is in direct proportion to its mathematical frequency; the more unusual a combination of cards, the higher the rank of the hand.

In most poker games, one player acts as dealer and passes a round disc to his or her left after each hand (the button). In tournament play the button rotates clockwise after each dealing interval. The player to the left of the button must either place a forced bet (called the small blind or big blind) or act first in each betting interval by folding, calling, or raising.

During the second half of the 20th century, draw poker declined in popularity in favor of stud-like games such as Texas hold’em, which world champion Doyle Brunson once referred to as “the Cadillac of poker.” In a Texas hold’em game, two cards are dealt face down to each player (called hole cards) and five community cards are then dealt face up in stages consisting of a series of three (“the flop”) and an additional card (“the turn” or “fourth street”) followed by a final single card (“the river” or “fifth street”). Players then seek to make a winning poker hand using their own two hole cards and the five community cards.

In poker tournaments, entrants pay a fixed sum to participate and receive a starting number of chips that they must use to compete for the prize pool. When the tournament ends, a deal may be made to chop up the remaining prize money among the players in relation to their placing in the tournament. Alternatively, the winner may be awarded the entire prize pool. In either case, the prize money is usually distributed in cash or in tournament tickets that can be used to enter future events.