Poker is a card game played between two or more players. The game relies on luck and skill. Players can also bluff during the game. A good bluffing strategy can allow a weak hand to win the pot.

The game is usually played with a standard deck of 52 cards, though some variant games use multiple packs and/or add extra cards known as jokers. The cards are ranked in descending order from high to low: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. The game may be played with one or more betting rounds.

Depending on the poker variant, cards can be dealt either face up or down. A player can then choose to fold, call or raise a bet. A raised bet is an indication that the player has a strong hand. A player can also replace their cards if they have a bad one by drawing from an undealt portion of the pack, depending on the rules of the game.

There are many different strategies in poker, and the best players have excellent reading skills. This is because the other players’ tells — unconscious habits that reveal information about the strength of their hands — are visible in their body language and expressions. A good reader can make sense of these tells and change their own strategy accordingly. A tell can be as simple as a shift in posture or as complex as a gesture.