Poker is a card game played by two or more players and involving betting on the value of a hand. It is a skill-based game and the goal is to win the pot by having the best five-card hand. There are many variants of the game and each has its own rules. However, some basic concepts are universal to all poker games. These include the basics of hand rankings, the meaning of position, and how to play your cards.
Poker is almost always played with poker chips. Each player buys in for a certain amount of chips which represents money to be used as a wager in the game. A white chip is worth one ante or bet; a red chip is worth ten white chips; and a blue chip is usually worth twenty or more whites. Each player may use these chips to bet during a betting interval. The first player to place a bet is said to open the action.
After the opening betting round, the dealer deals three cards face up on the table, called the flop. These are community cards that anyone can use in their poker hand. A second betting round then occurs.
It is important to keep in mind that even though you have a strong hand (such as pocket kings or pocket queens) the flop can still kill you. If the flop has tons of flush or straight cards it will be much harder to get your hand to improve and you will probably lose.