Poker is one of the world’s most popular card games. It’s a game of chance and skill, requiring both a thorough understanding of hand rankings and betting structures as well as the ability to read your opponents and put pressure on them with your bets. Pro players spend as much time analyzing their opponent’s moves as they do their own.

The basic rules of poker are simple: each player is dealt two cards and then bets over a series of betting rounds until one player has a five-card hand and wins the pot. Each round begins with the dealer putting up the first amount of money, called an ante. Players may then discard their cards and take new ones from the top of the deck. Then a second round of betting takes place. After the final betting round, each player shows their cards and the player with the best hand wins.

When it’s your turn, you can say “call” to match the amount of the last person’s bet, or raise to add more money to the pot. Each bet is made with chips, typically white or light-colored ones that are worth the minimum ante amount. A white chip is worth one bet, a red chip is worth five bets, and a blue chip is worth ten bets.

Learning how to read your opponents’ actions is the key to becoming a better poker player. You’ll need to identify conservative players (players who only stay in a hand with good cards) from aggressive players (players who bet high early in the hand). By reading your opponents, you can make better decisions about whether or not to call their raises.