Poker is a card game played by two or more players. A game of poker can be played with any number of cards, and the game is won by the player with the highest-ranking hand at the end of a betting round. Each round begins with two forced bets (ante or blind) placed into the pot by players on the left of the dealer, and then a single card is dealt face up to each player. The player can then choose to reveal his or her hand, and players may then place additional bets into the pot.

A player may also choose to bluff in the course of playing a hand. The most common way to bluff is to pretend that you have a high-scoring hand when you don’t, in order to convince other players to fold and leave their chips to you.

In most cases, the best a player can do is win the entire pot with his or her 5-card hand at the end of a betting round. However, a hand’s chances of winning are determined not just by its own strength or weakness, but by the overall strength or weakness of other hands in the same situation, and as a result, there are many strategic decisions that must be made in the course of a hand.

Among the most important of these decisions is whether to raise your bets when you have a strong value hand. By raising your bets, you can inflate the pot size and get more value out of a good hand. By contrast, by calling your opponent’s bets when you have a mediocre or drawing hand, you can exercise pot control and keep the size of the pot in check.