Poker is a card game that requires skill and strategy to win. It is also a social activity where players make friends and share a laugh. It is played both in casinos and at home, in private games and in tournaments. It is a popular pastime in the United States, where it has become a cultural icon and has generated significant profits for professional players and gambling establishments.

The underlying skill in Poker is to minimize losses with poor hands and maximize winnings with good ones. Players may use a variety of tactics to misinform opponents about the strength of their cards, including betting patterns (e.g., raising only when they have a strong hand). They can also bluff to induce opponents into calling their raises. The winner of each betting interval is the player with the highest-ranking poker hand.

Before the cards are dealt, some Poker games require each player to put an initial contribution into the pot, called an ante. A player who refuses to do this is said to “drop” and may not compete for the pot.

In some Poker games, the players establish a common fund, called the kitty, from which they pay for new decks of cards and food and drinks. The players may choose to split the kitty equally when a player leaves a match before it is finished.

There are forms of Poker that can be played with a number of different numbers of players, from 2 to 14. Many players play in poker tournaments, where the winner is determined by the sum total of the scores achieved in all of the matches. A tournament that features multiple matches with a small number of competitors is often called a series or a circuit.