Poker is a card game played with a standard pack of 52 cards plus jokers. It has a number of variants that alter the rules slightly, but all share the following features:
A player’s turn to act starts when they have 2 hole cards, and they can fold (end their turn), call (match a previous players bet), or raise (bet a larger amount than a previous player). The dealer then deals one more card face up, which is called the flop. After the flop, there is another round of betting.
Once the betting rounds are completed, the player with the best hand wins. The highest poker hand is a straight, which is 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. A flush is five cards of the same rank, which can be either high or low. A pair is two cards of the same value, and a high card breaks ties.
One of the most important things for any poker player to understand is how to read an opponent’s range. Many newer players attempt to put an opponent on a specific hand, but more experienced players will work out the full range of hands that their opponent could have and how likely it is that they would hold a better hand than yours.
Poker is a game of risk and reward, and it can be easy to get sucked in by the excitement of winning and losing. But it’s important to set a bankroll (both for every session and over the long term) and stick to it.