Poker is a gambling game where the aim is to form the best hand of cards. It is played with a deck of 52 standard poker cards, which are ranked from Ace to Ace high. However, some variant games may use jokers or wild cards.

Cards are dealt clockwise around the table. The dealer is responsible for shuffles and deals each hand. Some games award a share of the pot to the highest hand. Others split the pot between the highest and lowest hands.

A common hand is the straight flush, consisting of five cards of the same suit. This is the best natural hand. But there is also the Royal Straight Flush, which is formed by five cards of the same sequential value. There are also variant games that do not consider flushes or straights.

Ties are broken by a high card. If two players have the same high card, one of them wins. Otherwise, the player who has the highest pair wins.

Two players tie if they both have a pair of the same rank. However, if neither of them has a pair, a third card is used to determine the winner. For example, a king-high straight breaks ties. Another example is a pair of six’s.

The next step is to make a bet. During betting phases, the remaining player collects the pot without revealing his or her hand. In the case of a draw, the pot is divided equally among the players.