Poker is a card game played with many participants. The ideal number of players is six to eight. Each player must place chips into the pot equal to the amount of money that was bet by players before them. The player who makes the highest hand wins the pot. When this happens, the player is said to be the active player.

Poker is a game of chance, but it gains more skill with betting and psychology. If you want to learn more about the rules of Poker, you can read books on the subject, or you can play with friends who know the game well. However, it is more expensive to play with real people than to study a book.

There are many variations of the game of poker. It has been rumored that it originated in Persia, but it is most likely to be a 17th century version of the French game poque. Poque developed alongside the German pochen and the Spanish primero. It later reached the New World through French settlers.

Players start with a standard pack of 52 cards, but some variations have multiple packs and even added jokers. The cards are ranked Ace high to low and from Ace low to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. The goal of the game is to win as many chips as possible from your opponents.