In poker, players bet over a series of betting intervals, or rounds, with the highest-ranking hand winning the pot. Each round starts when one player, in turn, puts chips into the pot and then either calls, raises, or drops. A call is when a player chooses to put the same number of chips into the pot as the previous player, a raise means that they are raising the amount the previous player put into the pot and dropping means that they are discarding their hand and will not participate in the next betting round.
Players must ante up a small amount of money (the ante amount varies by game type) to get dealt cards and to start the betting round. Once all the players have acted and the minimum bet has been made, three more cards are added to the table, known as the ‘flop’, which are community cards that everyone can use. Another round of betting then takes place and at the end of this round the dealer puts a fifth card onto the table which is called the river. Once again another betting round takes place and the player with the highest five-card poker hand wins the pot.
A good starting point for a new poker player is playing low-stakes cash games or micro-tournaments. This will minimize financial risk and allow you to experiment with strategies without too much pressure. It’s also important to study and observe experienced poker players as they play, to learn from their decisions and adopt effective strategies.