Despite variations in the rules, all versions of poker have common features. In general, poker hands consist of five cards and their value inversely relates to the mathematical frequency of their occurrence. Players place bets based on whether they have the best hand or the worst, and the other players must match their bet in order to win. Players may also bluff by betting that they have the best hand but don’t have it in reality.

The round of betting concludes when all players except one fold. After the betting phase, players reveal their hands in clockwise rotation around the table. The player who began the process depends on the type of poker being played. In some versions of poker, each player begins the betting phase, while in others, the dealer does the shuffling. In general, however, the process takes place clockwise. Depending on the variation, the round of betting concludes with the Showdown, which is the winner of the game.

Every round of poker has a dealer. This player is responsible for shuffling the deck and dealing the cards to players. Sometimes, a non-player takes the role of a dealer for the entire game. Each player takes turns as the dealer, and the dealer is designated by a dealer chip, which is passed from player to player. Certain betting rules are dependent on the location of the dealer. If a player places his chips into the pot, he is said to be the active player.