Poker is a card game played with a complete hand and wagers made by players. The object of the game is to win the pot, which consists of the sum of all the bets made in a single deal.

A player may call (match) a bet, raise it by the amount of the last bet, or fold. The latter option costs the player the bet he or she has already made and removes him from the competition for the pot. In most cases, the player who raised must make his or her own bet at some point during a betting round, but can also check and stay out of the pot.

The rules of poker vary between different variants, but most have certain common features: The basic principle is that a player must either call the maximum bet or forfeit his or her hand and thus his or her share in the pot. A player who chooses to remain in the pot may bet again, increasing his or her contribution to the pot by up to a maximum limit established for the variant being played.

Suppose that Brad kept two cards and you had three of a kind off the deal. When you raised, everyone called you. You probably had a better hand than Brad, but you were not sure what his hand was because he kept his cards hidden. It could have been a pair or maybe he had a straight or flush, but you didn’t know.