Poker is a card game where players wager money by betting on the outcome of a hand. The game is characterized by several rounds of betting, with the player who makes the highest hand winning the pot. During each round, players may place bets (put money into the pot) by calling, raising or folding. Money is only placed into the pot voluntarily, for strategic reasons based on probability, psychology and game theory. The game was first analyzed using the mathematical method of game theory by mathematicians John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern in their 1944 book, Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. This analysis distilled poker down to its basic dynamics and demonstrated that optimal strategies exist.
Each player starts with two cards face down. Then there are several rounds of betting where more cards are added to the board, and each player takes turns to act. The action is clockwise around the table. Players can fold, check (pass on their turn), call (match another player’s bet) or raise (put a higher amount of money into the pot).
A high-ranking hand is called “the nuts.” It consists of three matching cards of one rank and two matching unmatched cards. A straight consists of five consecutive cards of the same suit. A flush consists of any five cards of the same rank. A full house consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. A pair consists of two identical cards of one rank.