Poker is a game of incomplete information where players act on their own two cards (which are called “hole cards”) and five community cards in order to make the best 5 card hand. The goal is to win the “pot” – all of the chips that have been bet so far – without showing your cards. This is accomplished by betting with strong hands and bluffing with weak ones, while taking advantage of your position to control how many cards your opponents see.

In cash games, each player has a fixed number of chips that they can bet with. A round of betting begins once everyone has 2 hole cards and then 1 more card is dealt (“the flop”). After the flop, there is another round of betting. Finally, a fifth community card is dealt (“the river”) and there’s a final round of betting.

A player wishing to stay in the pot must equalize his stake with that of the last raiser, and may also raise it further. If unwilling to do either, he must fold.

The game is played with a fixed amount of money called chips, and each player has an equal number of them. The chips are placed in a central area of the table called a pot and each player acts in turn, raising or calling until all players have folded or one player has all of the chips.