Poker is a card game in which each player places chips into the pot (representing money) in order to make a bet. The player who has the highest value hand wins the pot. Players can also choose to call (match a previous player’s bet), raise (bet a higher amount than a previous player’s bet), or fold.
There are four rounds of betting: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn (the fourth community card), and after the river (the fifth and final community card). Each round begins with the dealer shuffling the cards. Then, the first player to act (typically the player to the left of the button) must either call the bet or raise it.
Bluffs happen far less often than you might think from the way they’re portrayed on TV and in conversations with friends. However, this pursuit of safety can cause you to miss out on a lot of opportunities where a modest risk could yield a large reward.
Every action you take – whether it’s to fold, call, check, or raise – gives your opponents bits of information that they can use to build a story about your hand. The goal is to give away enough information for your opponents to be unable to guess your strength, but not so much that they become bored with the game. This is called “reading” your opponents.