Poker is a card game in which players wager chips (representing money) on the outcome of a hand. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, plus one joker that is used as wild. Each player is dealt two cards, and competes with other players to make the highest possible five-card poker hand. Players may also choose to bluff by betting that they have a superior hand, hoping that other players will call their bet and reveal their own inferior hands.
Each game of poker involves a pot, and each player contributes chips to it whenever their turn comes up. Each player has to place in the pot a number of chips equal to or greater than the total amount staked by all players who have previously made bets in that betting interval. A player who contributes a higher amount than the previous raiser is said to have raised.
Some players prefer to be conservative, only contributing to the pot when they have a strong hand. This is sometimes useful when a player wants to force weaker hands to fold, but it can be difficult to read. Aggressive players will often bet high on the flop, even when their hand is not good, in the hope that they can bluff other players into calling their bets.
A player may also say “raise” if they want to add more money to the pot than the last person. If they say this, all other players must either call their new bet or fold their cards.