Poker is a card game where players compete to make the best five-card hand. There are many different types of poker, each with its own rules and strategies. But there are some things that all poker games have in common.
Each player starts with two cards, called their “hole” cards. A betting round begins after each card is dealt. Depending on the poker type, there may be a “button” that controls how the betting goes. There is also usually a dealer, a person responsible for shuffling the deck and dealing each hand. Often the dealer is a non-player, but some poker games allow players to take turns being the dealer. The dealer is identified by a special chip passed around the table, or by a specific action that is taken before each hand.
When it’s your turn to bet, you can either call (put in the same amount as the previous player), raise, or fold. When you raise, the other players must put in the same amount as the player who raised, or more. You can’t say “check” (meaning you don’t want to bet) if the previous player has raised – this is considered poor etiquette.
A winning hand in poker depends on hitting all your needed cards. For example, if you have pocket 7’s and the flop is 7-6-2, you have the “nuts” – a full house. If the river is a 7, you have a straight. A flush is 5 cards of consecutive rank, and a three of a kind is 2 cards of the same rank and another pair of unmatched cards.