n.
Any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others.
Each subsequent player must either equal or raise the bet or drop out. The pot is eventually won by either the player showing the best hand when it comes to a showdown or the only player left when everyone else has dropped out, or "folded." In this case the winner need not show his hand and could conceivably have won the pot with a lower hand than any other at the table. It is for this reason that poker is described as a game of bluff. Two principal forms of the game have developed: straight poker, in which all cards of the standard five-card hand are dealt facedown; and stud poker, in which one or two cards are dealt facedown and the rest faceup (five-card) or the last card down (seven-card). In draw poker, cards may be discarded and additional cards drawn. The traditional ranking of hands is (1) straight flush (five cards of the same suit in sequence, the highest sequence
ace, king, queen, jack, ten
being called a royal flush), (2) four of a kind, (3) full house (three of a kind, plus a pair), (4) flush (five of a single suit), (5) straight (five in sequence), (6) three of a kind, (7) two pair, (8) one pair.