Poker is a card game in which players compete to form the best possible hand of five cards. It can be played in many different variants, but all of them involve betting and a showdown to determine the winner of a round of play. In addition, the game often includes rules about how the money in a pot is to be shared among the remaining players.

Before each round of play, the players buy in for a certain amount of chips. These are usually white or light-colored chips that have specific values, such as one white chip is worth the minimum ante or bet, and a red chip is worth five whites. Most poker games also involve blind bets, which are placed before the player is dealt a hand.

After the players have put in their bets, they are dealt cards, which are either face-up or face-down depending on the game. The dealer shuffles the cards, then deals them to each player one at a time starting with the person to their left. The player then cuts the deck (takes a card) and the shuffling process starts again.

Each player then takes turns revealing their hands and making betting decisions. The player with the best poker hand wins all of the chips in the pot. If no one has a winning hand, the game ends in a draw and the money is shared among the players who remain in the game.