Poker is a card game that is played between two or more players. The object of the game is to use the cards you are dealt to make the best five-card poker hand possible. There are many different variations of poker, but they all share the same basic rules.
Each player puts in the pot (representing money, for which poker is almost invariably played) a number of chips equal to or greater than the amount contributed by the player before him. This is called being in the pot, or being active.
When it is your turn to bet you can call any existing bets, raise them, or fold your cards and take no further part in the hand. If you raise a bet and no one else calls it, the pot is divided equally among the players still in the hand.
After the first betting round is complete, the dealer deals three additional cards face-up on the table. These are community cards that anyone can use to create a poker hand. This is called the flop.
Then there is another betting round. At the end of the betting, the dealer reveals all the cards and declares the winner of the hand. There are several different ways to win a poker hand, but the most common is with a straight or flush. A straight is five consecutive cards of the same rank, while a flush is five cards of the same suit that skip around in rank or sequence but are all the same suit.