Poker is a card game played between two or more players and involves betting. The aim of the game is to win pots of money (or chips) by having the highest ranking poker hand. While luck plays a big part in poker, the best players have several similar traits including patience, understanding how to read other players and adapting their strategy over time.
Each player makes a bet in turn by putting one or more chips into the pot. Players can choose to “call” the bet, which means that they are calling the amount of money raised since their last turn, or raise the bet, which adds more money to the pot. If they are not happy with their current hand, players can also fold.
If a player has a strong poker hand, they can try to scare off other players by bluffing. This can work if they have good bluffing skills and a high enough poker ranking, but it is not always successful.
Once the poker betting round is complete, the dealer deals three cards face up on the table that anyone can use (this is called the flop). Then each player takes turns to reveal their hands and the player with the best 5 poker hand wins the pot. If there is a tie, the pot is split between players. During this phase, players should bet as much as they can to force weaker hands out of the pot.
