Poker is a family of card games played worldwide. The game has been compared to other vying card games such as brelan and primero. A few variants are commonly played, including Texas hold’em, Omaha, and seven-card stud.

Almost all poker games have one or more rounds of betting. Betting can be a part of the game’s name, or it can be a standalone feature. It is important to know the rules of each type of poker.

When a player wins a hand, he or she collects the pot. Each player is required to put in a certain number of chips into the pot. This is called a “forced bet” in the poker world, and it can be the ante or a blind bet.

Unlike many other card games, a poker hand is not valued in mathematical frequency. In some forms of poker, it isn’t even considered. Usually, the player with the highest single card in the hand is the winner.

Another poker tidbit is that a hand is not the only thing that can be won. Depending on the game, a different player can win a side pot, which is a separate pot of money that is split between two or more players. For instance, if a player has a pair and a pair of aces in the same hand, then he or she has a full house.

Other variations on poker include the straight, which is a set of five consecutive cards from the same suit. These hands are a rarer sight than a four of a kind.