Poker is a game of cards where players place bets on the strength of their hands in order to win the pot (all the money that’s placed into the betting pool). Each player has four rounds of betting: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after the river. In each round players can fold, check (no bet), call (match a previous player’s bet), or raise (bet more than a previous player).
One of the most important things to remember about poker is that you should play only when you feel happy and healthy. The game is very mentally intensive and it’s easy to make bad decisions if you’re tired or stressed out.
It’s also important to pay attention to other players and learn how to read them. A lot of this comes from picking up on subtle physical poker tells, like fiddling with your chips or wearing a hat, but it also involves looking for patterns in how other players play. For example, if a player usually calls and then suddenly raises on the flop it’s probably because they have a strong hand and want to get the most out of their investment.
A key skill that all serious poker players should work on is understanding ranges. A range is the selection of possible hands that an opponent could have and it’s a useful tool for working out how much equity you have against them. You can use poker tools such as Power-Equilab to assign an opponent a range of hands and then run the calculation of how much you should win by calling with your strong hand.