Poker is a card game that involves betting between players. The goal is to make the best 5-card hand using your two personal cards (also called hole cards) and the five community cards on the table. Each player has a certain number of chips that they place into the pot to bet with, but only the player who makes the best 5-card hand wins all the money that has been bet so far.

There are several ways to win a hand, depending on the specific rules of the game. A straight contains 5 consecutive cards of the same rank (ascending or descending), while a flush is any five cards of the same suit. Three of a kind is three cards of the same rank, while a pair is two matching cards of the same rank, such as two sixes or two kings.

During each betting round, players can call, check, raise, or fold. A raise means you are adding more than the previous player’s bet to the total amount of money being bet, and is done in clockwise order around the table. A check is when you do not want to add to the total bet, and is done in counterclockwise order.

Once all the cards have been dealt, a second betting round takes place. After this, the flop is revealed, and the third betting round begins. This is a good time to look at your opponents’ hands, and think about what type of hand you might have.