Poker is a game of chance, but it relies heavily on skill too. It involves reading the other players, understanding their tells and non-verbal cues, and changing your strategy based on that. It’s also about knowing the rules and etiquette of the game and following them.
Depending on the rules of your game, players may be required to place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. This is known as the ante, blinds or bring-in.
Once all the players have their two personal cards, they can then create a hand with the five community cards on the table. The best hand wins the pot. The other players can call, raise or fold – or muck their hand if they don’t want to play it.
A pair contains two matching cards of the same rank. A full house contains 3 cards of one rank and 2 cards of another rank. A straight contains 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. A flush contains 5 cards of the same suit that are in a sequence, but do not have to be consecutive.
When it’s your turn to act, you can Check (passing on the possibility of a bet), Call (matching the highest bet placed at the table) or Raise (putting in more than the previous player’s raised bet). You can only raise once per round. It’s important to understand how the other players at your table are betting and raising, and to know how often you can steal their bets if you play in the correct position.