During each round of poker, players will make one or more bets. A bet may be made as a forced bet or a blind bet. The winner of the pot is the player who has the highest hand. If two or more people tie for the high card, a high card breaks the tie. If no two people tie for the high card, a secondary pair breaks the tie. Similarly, a third and fourth pair break the tie.
In most poker games, a standard deck of 52 cards is used. The deck is usually shuffled, then dealt clockwise around the table. Typically, the house dealer handles the cards for each hand. In some variants, a player is allowed to shuffle his own deck, or take a new deck of cards from the top of the deck. Alternatively, the player is allowed to use a wild card. A wild card can be any card, and can take any suit.
Once a player has been dealt a hand, the player can discard any number of cards. After the final betting round, the player who has the highest hand wins the pot. The other players remain in contention until someone has called or folded. A showdown occurs when the hand is revealed. The winner of the pot wins all chips in the pot. A showdown only occurs if there are callers in the last round of betting.
If a player has five of a kind, his hand is considered to be the best possible. Other types of hands include two of a kind, three of a kind, four of a kind, straight flush, flush, and full house. Some games have Wild Cards, which allow a player to make five of a kind.
The player who receives the jack of a suit becomes the first dealer. The other players must then place an ante into the pot. The ante can be a blind bet or an ante. The first player to act is the player to the left of the button. A player can be in the first-to-act position if he is the first to post the big blind, which is a small amount of money that is a forced bet.
Each player has a turn to deal and to bet. After the turn, a second round of betting occurs. Once the cards have been dealt, the last player to deal is the dealer. The dealer is usually a white plastic disk. The dealer has the last right to shuffle the deck. The turn to bet is then passed from player to player.
The players will then evaluate their hands. If two or more players have identical hands, a high card breaks the tie. Similarly, if several players have identical hands, a secondary pair breaks the tie. If no one has a pair, the hand is a tie. A poker hand is only a tie when no one has a pair of the same suit.