During the course of a poker game, players will have two cards in their hands, with additional cards added over time. The goal is to make the best hand possible. In some variant games, a player can use Wild Cards, which take any suit. The best natural hand is a straight flush, which is five cards in the same suit.

Poker is played by a group of people at a circular table. The first person left of the button is the dealer. The button is a plastic disk in live poker, and moves clockwise after each hand. It is also used to identify the starting position in each hand.

The initial dealer shuffles the cards, then cuts the deck and deals cards one at a time to each player. Each player will then reveal his hand. The best hand wins the pot, which is a sum of all the chips in the pot.

In a round of betting, each player can choose to bet or to fold. If a player decides to call, he puts in an amount equal to the last bet in the round. If a player decides to fold, he loses any chips in the pot.

If a player chooses to raise, he puts in an amount equal to 14 chips more than the last bet. This is done in an effort to bluff other players. A player may also raise if he has a good hand.