The game of poker is a card game where players compete to make the best five-card hand. A player must place chips (representing money) into the pot in order to play. There are many different types of poker games and betting rules vary. In most cases a person designated as the dealer will be responsible for shuffling and dealing the cards. This is often a non-player but it can also be another player at the table.
When it is a player’s turn to bet they can either call the amount that was put in by the person before them or raise the amount that was called. If you want to raise the amount that is in the pot, you must say “raise” before you put in your chips.
During the first betting round each player is dealt two cards. The person to the left of the big blind takes the first turn in the betting process and can choose to call the current bet, put in a higher amount than the previous player (raise) or push their cards face down without placing any chips into the pot (fold).
After the initial betting round is complete the dealer will deal three more community cards face up on the table. These are known as the flop. Let’s say you dealt yourself a pair of kings off the flop. You know that you have a decent hand but it is difficult to tell how strong it is. The flop comes A-8-5 which is not the best of cards for your pair but it does give you an excellent chance to win.