Poker is a card game in which players make wagers. Usually, a player uses a standard pack of 52 cards; some variants add jokers. The cards are ranked from Ace to King and from Queen to Jack. The ace can be high or low, and all hands contain five cards. Some games feature Wild Cards, which are cards that can change their suit. In these cases, the best hand wins the pot.

A player who does not wish to bet a bet will check. A player who checks does not owe anything to the pot. If another player raises a bet, they may call. This is known as sandbagging and is allowed, unless it is prohibited by the game’s rules.

The game can be played with any number of players, but six to eight players is the ideal number. The number of players is called the “pot”. A player can win the pot by holding the best poker hand, or by making a bet that no other player calls. In the case of more than ten players, two separate games are organized.

While some people believe that poker originated in Persia, a more likely origin is France. The first European version of the game was probably the 17th-century French game called poque. Poque evolved alongside the German game pochen, and eventually made its way to the New World.