Poker is a card game where the aim is to use your cards and the information you can pick up from other players to create a winning poker hand. Unlike some other card games, poker involves betting and bluffing and is played against other people, not machines. This makes it a social and psychological game where players are competing against one another. To help you succeed in the game, you will need to learn to read your opponents and play into their strengths and weaknesses. You will also need to practice and study the rules of poker variations.
Poker uses a standard pack of 52 cards (although some variants will use more than two packs and add wild cards). The cards are ranked from high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
The dealer deals the first round of cards face down. Then the players have to decide whether to call, raise or fold. Once this betting round is complete the dealer puts three more cards on the table, called the flop. This is where the second betting round starts.
A high pair is a poker hand consisting of two distinct pairs of cards and the highest of these wins ties. The high card is also used to break ties in a flush, straight or full house. If nobody has a pair or higher then the highest card wins. The highest of these hands is five aces.