Poker is a card game played by two or more players. Each player has a set of cards, and aims to make the best five-card hand from those cards. The game starts with each player placing an ante (a bet). If a player has a high card, they can open betting by saying “I raise.” Other players can choose to call your new bet or fold.
The next stage of betting is when the flop is dealt. Then the players can discard one to three cards or hold their current cards. If they discard, the dealer will draw replacements and add them to the bottom of the draw stack. After the flop, each player can try to win the pot by betting the cards they have.
Throughout the game, players will have to decide what their strategy is and how they are going to play their hands. A big part of this is trying to predict what your opponent has in their hand and estimating the probability that they have a certain hand, which will help you know how much money you should bet on them.
Another important aspect of poker is understanding how to deal with mistakes that your opponents make. It is a game of incomplete information, so mistakes will happen, but you can learn to appreciate them as an opportunity to improve your own play by studying how your opponents play when they are making a mistake.