Poker is a card game where players compete to make the best 5-card hand. The player with the highest-ranked cards wins. To start a hand, each player must buy in for a set amount of money into the pot. This creates a pot of money to play with and encourages competition.

When the dealer has shuffled the cards and dealt two to each player, there is a round of betting that begins with the player to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option to call (put into the pot the same number of chips as the bet) or raise the bet by putting in more than the minimum amount. They can also drop, which means that they put no chips into the pot and discard their hand.

After the first round of betting is complete, the dealer puts three more cards on the table that are known as community cards and can be used by everyone in the hand. Then another round of betting takes place.

After the flop, the goal is to make your best hand of five cards from the combination of your personal two cards in your hands and the remaining community cards. To do this, you have to put pressure on your opponents and try to force them to fold their strong hands. A large part of this is learning how to read your opponents and understand their betting patterns. This is not always easy and can often come from subtle physical tells but it is very important to the overall success of your poker game.