Poker is a game in which a hand is composed of at least five cards. Each card has a value inversely proportional to the number of times it appears. The best natural hand is the straight flush, which is composed of five cards of the same suit. A straight flush can be either high or low, but an ace cannot wrap around a two-three-four set. When more than one player has this combination, the higher card wins.
Before starting a hand, players make ante and blind bets. The first round of betting begins with each player seeing all five cards. Typically, this begins with the player to the left of the dealer, and the player with the blind bet. The other players have the same opportunity to make bets.
Players in this position must make forced bets (the ante) and blind bets (called when a player has a strong hand). The dealers shuffles and cuts the cards and deals them out one by one. The cards may be dealt face-up or face-down, depending on the game variant. Then, the players have a chance to develop poker hands.
The ranks of individual poker hands are determined by the probability that the player will have a winning hand. The best hand is the Royal Flush, followed by a Straight Flush, and then the next best hand is the High Card. The highest ranking hand wins the pot. All poker hands contain at least five cards, although some games use multiple packs and jokers.
