Poker is a card game of skill and chance played by two or more people. Players place bets in the form of chips, and the goal is to win the pot (the total amount of bets made on a single hand). Depending on the variant of poker being played, this may require forming a specific poker hand or bluffing opponents into folding their cards.

A dealer is responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards, and a special chip is passed around to designate who will be the dealer during each round. The dealer may be a player or, more commonly, is a non-player who takes turns being the dealer for the duration of the game.

After the dealer has dealt all the cards, the first betting round begins. Each player must decide whether to call a bet or fold their cards, and may choose to raise their bets on subsequent betting rounds.

Once all the action on the preflop betting streets is complete, the dealer will reveal the flop. The community cards are now visible, and the remaining players can now form a poker hand using their two personal cards plus the five community cards.

A player’s position at the table is also important. Typically, late positions give the players the ability to manipulate the pot on later betting streets by calling re-raises with weaker hands. On the other hand, early position players are often targets for aggressive opponents who want to force them out of their hands with high betting.