Poker is a card game played by two or more players. There are many variations of poker, but they all involve betting and evaluating hands. The aim of the game is to make winning bets, while minimizing losses when you have a bad hand. This strategy is called min-max.

The game originated in Europe during the 1850s and quickly spread to America. Around this time, the full 52-card English deck was adopted for the game. In addition, several additional poker variants were developed, including draw and stud poker games.

A basic poker game consists of five cards dealt face down to each player. Once all players have their cards, there is a round of betting. This is usually started by 2 mandatory bets (called blinds) placed into the pot by the players to the left of the dealer.

After the initial rounds of betting, each player will either check, raise or fold their hand. If they raise, then they must call any other player’s raise to stay in the round. If they fold, then they forfeit the hand and cannot participate in future betting.

The highest ranking poker hand wins the pot. The rank of the poker hand is determined by the value of its highest card. A straight is a combination of five consecutive cards of the same rank, such as an ace, two, three, four and five. A three of a kind is a hand that contains three cards of the same rank, such as three jacks.