Poker is a betting card game that requires a mix of skill, talent, and luck. It can be played socially for pennies or matchsticks, or professionally for thousands of dollars at a casino.

The cards used in poker are a standard 52-card deck with four different suits: hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. Players also use chips, which stand in for money.

A player may choose to call a bet, raising the amount of the previous bet; or they may fold their hand and drop out of the betting. If they choose to raise, their opponents must call the amount of the raise to continue the betting round.

Most poker games have a fixed limit, which limits the amount of money each player can put into the pot before they are eliminated from the game. Some poker games have a no-limit limit, which allows players to bet however much they want without worrying about losing too many chips.

Players are dealt two cards (hole cards) face down, and five community cards are dealt face up in three stages: the flop, turn, and river. The goal of each player is to create the best five-card poker hand from the combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards.

Betting rounds occur during each of the three stages, with players betting in a clockwise fashion around the table. The first betting interval, which begins with a player making a bet, is called the ante or blind.