Poker is a card game where players form hands to compete against each other. The best hand wins the pot — the sum of all bets placed during a betting interval. Players may also raise and re-raise bets, depending on the variant of Poker being played. The game is sometimes described as a form of gambling, but expert players know that the skill element more than compensates for the chance component of the game.
A dealer is responsible for shuffling the cards and dealing them to the players. This person may be a non-player or one of the players at the table. A player who wants to be the dealer for a particular round must first buy in with chips that represent money. A typical Poker chip set consists of white, red, and blue chips worth various amounts.
Before each new round of betting, the dealer must shuffle and deal the cards. Then, players must choose whether to discard and draw new cards or “hold pat” on the cards they have. In some variations, there are also blind bets, which replace or add to the ante.
In the first round of betting, the player to the left of the dealer must place a bet called an ante. Then, the rest of the players can either call this bet or fold their cards. If the player says “I open,” they will raise the ante by an amount that is at least equal to the bet placed by the player before them. Players can also say “check” to remain in the hand without placing any bets if no one else has opened since their last turn.