Poker is a card game where players compete with each other. Typically, the highest hand wins the pot, but there are also variations. In one of these, the lowest hand is the one with the lowest cards. In another variation, flushes and straights are not considered, and the highest and lowest hands are split.

A straight is a poker hand made up of two distinct pairs of cards plus a fifth card. To make a straight, you would need to get a pair of five cards, or a pair of sevens. The second kind of straight, known as an open-ended straight, is made up of any two cards from the outside. A gutshot is half as likely to hit as an open-ended straight.

A player in the first-to-act position is seated to the left of the big blind and the button. In subsequent betting rounds, this player will sit to the left of the button. It is their responsibility to raise a certain number of chips in order to win the pot. If the player is successful in making this move, the hand is called a backdoor flush.

The number of players in the game varies, but the optimal number is six to eight players. In most games, there is a pot, which is the total of all the bets made by the players in a single deal. The player with the highest hand (or the one with the best poker hand) wins the pot. Alternatively, a player can win the pot by making a bet that no other player calls.