Poker is a card game in which players wager money on the cards they receive from a random distribution. The player with the highest-ranked hand wins all the money in the pot. Although some elements of skill are involved in poker, it is classified as gambling because it involves risking money on an uncertain outcome.

The game is played from a standard English-language 52-card pack, with some games adding a few extra cards known as jokers or wild cards. The cards are ranked from high to low (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) and have four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. A flush contains five consecutive cards of the same suit. A full house contains three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank. A pair is two matching cards of the same rank. A jack is a low-ranked card that may be used to break ties.

Players must place an initial amount of money into the pot before being dealt a hand. These forced bets are called antes or blinds and come in the form of chips. Players can then choose to Check, Call, or Raise. Generally, a player will stay in the pot if they believe they have a good hand or are trying to bluff other players for strategic reasons.

While a great deal of poker is determined by chance, the best players are adept at extracting signal from noise and integrating information from multiple channels to exploit their opponents. Experts are also masters of leveraging technology to collect behavioral dossiers on their opponents and even purchase records of their past play.