Poker is a card game played by two or more players and involves betting on the strength of one’s hand. The game has many variants, but they all share the basic rules. There are also many strategies that can be used to improve a player’s chances of winning. These strategies range from bluffing to reading opponents. The game is played with chips, and the bets are placed in a pot. The pot is won by the player with the best hand at the end of the game.

The game of Poker originated from a variety of earlier vying games such as Belle, Flux & Trente-un (French, 17th – 18th centuries), Post & Pair (English and American, late 18th – 19th centuries), Brag (American, early 19th century), and Brelan (French, mid – 19th century). All these games involved a three-card hand.

A round of betting begins after all the players have received their 2 hole cards and the dealer shuffles. The first round of betting is triggered by the mandatory bets called blinds placed into the pot by the players to the left of the dealer.

Thereafter, players may choose to place additional money into the pot on a voluntary basis when they believe that doing so has positive expected value. Any money that is raised in this fashion is placed into a special fund known as the kitty, which is used to pay for things like new decks of cards or food and drinks for the table.