Poker is a popular card game, especially on the Internet. It can be played with as few as two players and as many as eight. Although a wide variety of different games have various rules, the basics of poker are generally the same.

The basic goal of poker is to create the best possible hand using the five cards that you are dealt. Each hand is made up of three cards in the front and two cards in the back.

After the cards are dealt, each player must make a bet, called a forced bet, to start the game. The bet is usually a blind bet.

The dealer is the person who is responsible for dealing the cards. He or she has the last right to shuffle. Normally, a deck of 52 cards is used for modern poker, although short packs are sometimes used.

Poker is a family of comparing card games that are played at land-based casinos, online, and at home. Different versions of the game have variations on how many cards are in play and on how much of the pot is shared by all the players.

Poker has been played for centuries. The earliest known form was the Poques of the French settlers in New Orleans. Today, over 60 million people worldwide play poker. And with the Internet, it’s now easy to learn the basics of the game.

The first player to make a bet wins the pot. If no one else makes a bet, the winner is the one with the highest-ranking poker hand. Depending on the game, the best hands may be the straight, flush, or five of a kind.