Poker is a card game that has a large element of chance and requires skill to win. During a hand, each player places an amount of money into the pot before betting. The goal is to form the best possible poker hand based on the cards in your possession and the community cards. At the end of each betting round, the highest-ranking poker hand wins the pot. In addition, players may also win the pot by making a bet that no one else calls.

Players make their bets using plastic or ceramic discs called chips, which represent a fixed value of money. The chips can be exchanged for real cash when the poker game is over. In some games, players place an initial amount into the pot before dealing cards, which is called an ante or blind bet.

If you’re holding a weak hand like 6-7 off-suit preflop, it’s better to fold. This will save you the cost of your big blind and prevent you from losing your stack to a big raise by an opponent. Unless you have a very strong preflop hand, limping is usually not a good strategy for beginning players.

There are three types of poker hands. A full house contains 3 matching cards of the same rank, a flush contains 5 consecutive cards of the same suit, and a straight is five cards in sequence but from more than one suit. A high pair is two distinct cards of the same rank and a high card breaks ties.