Poker is a card game in which players place chips or cash into the pot when it’s their turn to bet. The best hand wins the pot.
A player is dealt two cards and when it’s their turn they can choose to call the amount of money that was raised by the previous player (call), raise the bet even further (raise) or push their cards face down without putting any chips in the pot (fold).
After everyone has called the ante the dealer deals three community cards on the table that anyone can use. This is called the flop. After the flop betting continues in the same way.
In order to make a good poker hand a player must be able to recognize the strength of their own cards and understand what other players might have. This is known as reading other players and a large part of it comes from paying attention to subtle physical poker tells but also by learning patterns. If you notice that a player tends to fold early it’s pretty safe to assume they’re playing some crappy cards and can be easily bluffed into folding.
It’s also helpful to have a strong grasp on the rules of poker so that you can read up on the different strategies and tactics that can be employed at the table. This will help you to be more confident at the table and prevent you from making silly mistakes that could cost you big time.