The game of poker is a card game that involves betting between two or more players. It has a wide range of variants, but all involve cards and chips. Players compete to win the pot, which is the total amount of all bets made during a hand. While the outcome of any particular hand may involve some degree of luck, winning hands often involve a combination of skill and psychology.

The first step in becoming a better poker player is learning to read your opponents. This includes watching their facial expressions, idiosyncrasies, and betting behavior. Some classic tells include a nervous look, scratching the nose, staring at their chips, blinking excessively, and swallowing hard. In addition, it’s important to understand the basic rules of poker:

After the first round of betting, three more community cards are revealed on the table (the flop). Players have seven total cards to use to make their best five-card hand: the two cards in their hand plus the four community cards on the board.

When it’s your turn to act, you can say “call” or “raise” to place additional money into the pot. To call, you match the amount of the last bet or raise. To raise, you increase the amount of the previous bet or raise. In some games, such as fixed limit, you can only raise a certain amount per street; in others, such as no-limit or pot-limit, you can raise unlimited amounts.