The game of poker is primarily a card game in which players bet their money into a pot to compete against the other players’ hands. This makes it a game of chance and skill, where the odds of winning depend on your position, opponents’ cards, and your own bluffing strategy.

Each player “buys in” for a particular amount of money, which is then used to place bets throughout the hand. These bets are called the ante and blind. During the course of a hand, one or more players will be forced to make these bets, but thereafter, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by players who believe their bet has positive expected value.

Once a player has two cards, they can choose to stay, fold, or raise. A stay means to keep your current hand and try to get a better one; a fold means to throw your cards in the trash and leave the table; and a raise means that you are adding more of your own money into the pot by matching the previous player’s raise.

A high hand is any hand that has at least two distinct pairs of cards. The highest pair wins ties. A low hand is any other hand that does not qualify as a pair or higher. A high card breaks ties when multiple players have the same hand. This is especially important when playing online poker, where a weak hand can lose to a strong bluff.