Poker is a card game that can be played by two or more people. There are many different variations of poker, but all involve betting and the sharing of cards. The goal of the game is to make a winning hand by using your own two cards and the five community cards. A good strategy involves studying the other players and assessing the board before betting. Cards: Poker is traditionally played with chips that represent money. These are usually colored red, white, black, or blue and have assigned values. They are exchanged for cash prior to the start of play. The game is played in intervals called betting rounds and each player must place at least the same amount of chips into the pot as the player before him. A pair: Two matching cards of the same rank. This is a very strong hand that can be made with any number of cards, but usually requires three to four. A full house is three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank. A flush is five cards in a sequence that skip around in rank, but are all from the same suit. A straight is five consecutive cards of different suits. High card: The highest card in a hand wins ties. High cards are used to break ties when no other hand is made. The pot: A pot is the sum of all bets made during a betting round. The winner of the hand takes all the chips in the pot. A good poker player knows when to fold and when to call. He also understands the importance of knowing the odds of his hand. The odds of a hand are calculated as the ratio of the total pot to the cost of calling to continue playing. For example, if there is $100 in the pot and it costs $10 to keep playing, the odds of having a good hand are 11-to-1. This is a very favorable odds to call and will often result in you making a good hand. There is an old saying in poker: “Play the player, not the cards.” This means that a hand is only good or bad in relation to what the other players are holding. For instance, you might have pocket kings on the flop, but if your opponent has a pair of jacks, you will lose 82% of the time. In this case, your kings were just not good enough. The standard 52-card pack is used in poker, although some games use multiple packs or wild cards (deuces and one-eyed jacks are popular). The cards are ranked from high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. A royal flush is the highest natural hand. Sometimes a player will use the joker as an additional card in a royal flush, but it’s not necessary for the hand to be a winning one.