Poker is a family of card games that is played worldwide. Each game has different rules and variations, but they all involve a round of betting. Players are dealt five cards, which they must use to make their best hand. The highest hand wins the pot.

Traditionally, poker is played using a standard pack of 52 cards. However, some variant games use multiple packs of cards. In addition, some poker games include wild cards. These can be any suit.

Typical cards are ranked from Ace to Ace low. There are four types of poker hands: straight, flush, high, and low. A high card breaks a tie if two people have the same card. If three people have the same card, the high card is the winner.

A straight is five cards of the same suit. If two players have a straight, the higher card wins. This type of hand is called a “straight flush” and is the best natural hand.

Two four of a kind with the same rank, or a pair, wins a tie. But if the same player has two pairs, or another two fours of a kind, the highest of the pair wins.

After the first round of betting, a dealer button is placed on the table. The button is a white plastic disk that indicates the nominal dealer. It moves one spot clockwise after each hand.

Cards are then dealt clockwise around the poker table. After the dealer deals cards, each player must discard at least three cards.