The game of poker involves a mix of luck and strategy. The game is played with two personal cards in your hand and five community cards on the table. The strongest hand wins the pot. If players have the same hand, the highest card breaks ties.

Each player must place an ante into the pot before betting starts. There are four rounds of betting: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after the river (the fifth and final community card). Each player can fold (drop out of the hand), check (don’t put any money into the pot), call (match another player’s bet), or raise (bet more than the previous player).

Poker is a game of limited information and restricted communication. Even though the outcome of a poker hand does involve chance, long-run expected value is determined by a player’s actions chosen on the basis of probability, psychology, and game theory.

You can tell a lot about an opponent’s behavior by how they move around the table and what they say. If they make an immediate call or raise, it is often a sign of strength. On the other hand, if they take a long time to decide whether to call or raise, it’s likely that they are weighing the probability of their hand beating yours and are trying to figure out which action will give them the most money if they win. Keeping track of these things will become second nature to you over time.