Poker is a card game in which players wager and place chips (representing money) in a pot. The highest-ranked hand wins the pot when all cards are revealed at the end of the hand. Different poker games have various rules, but most share the same basic hand rankings and betting structures.
Players begin the game by selecting a dealer. The dealer then shuffles the cards and deals two to seven cards to each player. After the deal, each player may choose to fold his or her hand, call, raise, or check. Calling means placing a bet equal to the one placed by the player before you. Raising means raising the amount of the previous bet by at least one increment. Checking means passing on the chance to place a bet and losing any bets made before your turn.
One of the most important skills in poker is understanding your opponent’s ranges. While newer players often try to put their opponents on a specific hand, more experienced players work out the full selection of hands the other player could have and the odds of each of those hands beating yours. This allows them to extract the maximum amount of value from their strong hands, while keeping the pot size under control when they have mediocre or drawing hands. A big part of this is reading your opponents’ tells and using them against them. This is also known as reading your opponents’ body language and can be a major advantage in the long run.