In poker players place chips in a pot for the chance to win a hand. The player with the best 5-card poker hand wins all of the money in the pot. This happens over a series of rounds, or betting phases.
The game has a dealer responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards to each player. The dealer is typically a non-player but may also be one of the players. The dealer is identified by a button that is passed around the table after each round.
Each betting interval, or round, begins when a player puts a number of chips into the pot. Then the players to their left can either “call” (put in at least as many chips as the bet), raise, or drop. If a player drops they forfeit any chips they put into the pot and will not play in the next round.
Once the first betting round is complete the dealer deals three cards face up on the table, called the flop. These are community cards that anyone can use. There is another round of betting and then a fifth card is dealt, known as the river.
The key to success in poker is reading your opponents. This doesn’t have to be subtle physical poker tells, but more often it is noticing patterns. For example if a player is betting all the time then you can assume they are holding pretty crappy cards and are bluffing a lot.