Poker is a card game played between two or more players. It is a game of chance, but it also involves skill and psychology.

In the standard game of poker, each player is dealt five cards. The highest hand wins the pot. The cards are ranked in order from high to low as Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 (in some games there are more than one rank of card; for example, in some poker variants the joker can take on any rank it wishes and other wild cards may be used, such as deuces or one-eyed jacks).

Each player must place into the pot the number of chips (representing money, for which poker is almost always played) that is at least equal to the amount placed by the player before him. In addition, he must either call the next bet or fold his hand.

After betting a few rounds, some players will raise the amount of money they are contributing to the pot by saying “raise.” The other players can choose to call the new bet or fold their hands.

In no-limit games, you should raise your bets when you have a strong value hand and call the raises of weaker hands. This will force your opponents to make bad decisions and will increase the value of your hand. If you are in late position, you can play a wider range of hands because you will be able to manipulate the pot on later betting streets.