Poker is a card game in which the object is to use your cards to make the best possible five-card hand. It involves a significant amount of chance but also strategy, psychology, and probability. Players place money into a pot (betting pool) by calling or raising a bet. They may also choose to fold their cards and abandon the hand. This allows them to compete for the pot with other players without showing their hand.

The first step to becoming a better poker player is paying attention to your opponents. A lot of the information you need to read other players comes not from subtle physical poker tells, but from patterns. For example, if a player always calls then they probably have a weak hand. Likewise, if a player usually raises then they probably have a strong hand.

When it is your turn you can say “call” to put up the same amount as the last player did. You can also say “raise” if you want to increase the amount that someone else has raised. In poker a raise must be at least equal to the previous high bet or it is called a check-raise.

If nobody raises after the flop is dealt then the dealer puts a fifth card on the table that everyone can use. Then there is a final betting round and the player with the highest ranked hand wins the pot. The remaining players who didn’t call the raise drop out of any side pots and their share of the original pot is divided equally among those who did call.