Poker is a card game in which players wager chips (representing money) against one another. The object of the game is to win the pot, which is the total amount bet by all active players in a single deal. A player may call (match) the bet of another player, raise it, or concede. Players may also bluff, placing bets they do not have the highest hand to attempt to deceive other players into thinking they are holding a good hand.
Poker has many variants and is played in homes, card clubs, and casinos worldwide. It is considered the national card game of the United States, where it has become an important part of American culture and is often watched on television. In some countries, the game is illegal, and a number of different organizations oversee the rules and regulations of the various games.
A game of poker typically involves an initial stake placed by each player before cards are dealt, called a blind bet or bring-in. Some versions of the game require a certain number of chips to be placed in the pot before the cards are dealt, a practice known as forced bets.
Most poker games are played with chips that represent dollars, rather than actual cash. This is partly for convenience, as chips are easier to stack, count, and make change with, but it also serves a psychological purpose: players tend to treat them more as real money than they do piles of cash.
