Poker is a game where players place chips into a pot to bet on the cards that are dealt to them. Each player has the right to make the first bet and must also bet a certain amount. The player who makes the first bet is called the active player. The rest of the players place their chips in the pot if they are not bluffing the other players.

The aim of the game is to have the best hand possible. In poker, the player with the best hand wins the pot, if the other players do not win the hand. If the players have the same hand, the pot is divided equally among the players. In addition to winning the main pot, the side pots can also be won by different players.

In most forms of poker, players are required to place a mandatory bet at the beginning of the hand. This is known as the ante. In some variants, players are required to make a blind bet or a small blind. The big blind is twice as large as the small blind. The order in which these two bets are placed depends on the role of the dealer.

A straight is five cards of the same suit. Aces may be high or low, and may not wrap around. The highest straight wins the pot. For instance, AKQJT beats KQJT9 and 5432A. If two straights have the same value, they will split the pot. Similarly, the highest three of a kind wins the pot if it matches two other cards.