Poker is a card game that can be played by two or more players. Each player has a set of cards and is trying to form the best five-card “hand” with them. The hand is formed using your own two personal cards plus the five community cards that are dealt (the flop, the turn, and the river). The winning hand is the one with the highest card rank. Some poker hands have special names, for example: a flush contains 5 cards of the same rank, a straight includes 2 matching cards that are not in order but from the same suit, and three of a kind is made up of 3 matching cards of any rank.
In poker, you bet money into the pot by saying “call” or “I call” to match the amount raised by the person before you. You can also say “raise” to add more than the previous player’s bet. This is often done with the intention of scaring weaker hands into folding.
Try to be as aggressive as possible in pre-flop play, and always raise your bets if you think that your hand has a good chance of beating the other players’ hands. This way, you will get the most value from your hand, and can bet more in the future when you have a stronger one. Don’t be afraid to bluff, but don’t waste your good cards on bad bluffs. You should only bluff when you are sure that your opponent will either call multiple bets or re-raise a bluff with a strong hand.