Poker is a card game played by a group of players on a table. A dealer is chosen to deal the cards, and each player puts in an amount of money called an ante or blind bet (or both) before the cards are dealt. The cards are then passed around in sets or a community pile, and each player has the option to call, raise, or fold. The player with the best hand wins the pot.

It’s important to be clear about your betting. Don’t say “call” if you want to bet the same as the last person, or “I call.” These phrases can confuse other players and influence how they play before it’s your turn. Also, don’t give other players information that they shouldn’t have – such as revealing how many chips you have left in your stack or what type of hand you are holding.

As you play, try to think about what other players might have in their hands when they make a bet. This can help you to determine whether you have a strong or weak hand, and may save you from making costly mistakes.

It takes thousands of hands to become a good player, but learning the basic rules can get you started. You can read books and watch online videos, but there’s no substitute for putting in the time to learn poker. As you play, you’ll begin to develop an intuition for statistics like frequency and EV estimation, which will help you improve your results over time.