Poker is a card game with rules that differ slightly from one variant to the next, but the core skills are all about math and card combinations. Practice and watching others play will help you develop quick instincts.
There are many different forms of poker, but most involve 2 to 14 players and a pot (the total amount of chips staked by all players in any one deal). The object of the game is to win the pot by having the highest-ranking hand at the showdown. Each player must make a bet in every betting interval, and may also raise that bet at any time. Alternatively, a player may “drop” (fold), in which case they put no chips into the pot and lose any they had already invested.
After each player receives their two hole cards, there is a round of betting, initiated by the mandatory bets known as blinds placed into the pot by the players to the left of the dealer. Once this betting interval is over, the dealer deals a third card face up on the table called the flop.
Once all of the players have five cards in their hands, there is another round of betting. Then the best five-card hand wins the pot. The best hand is either a full house (3 matching cards of 1 rank, plus 2 matching cards of another rank), straight (five consecutive ranks but not in sequence), or flush (5 cards from the same suit). If no one has a winning hand, they must pass on the turn to the next player.