Poker is a card game of chance and risk. It is played with a fixed amount of chips, which are placed into the pot by each player before they are dealt cards. Then betting rounds take place until a winner is declared and the cards are revealed. There are many different variations of the game, but they all share the same basic mechanics.
The game begins with one or more forced bets, usually a blind bet and/or an ante bet. The players then shuffle the cards and cut them with the person on their chair to the right, before the dealer deals each player a set number of cards. The cards may be dealt face-up or face-down, depending on the game variant.
In each betting round, players can check — meaning they pass on betting and wait to act again when it is their turn — or they can raise the amount they bet by saying “call” or “raise.” They are expected to make their raises large enough to force players with weaker hands into folding.
Strong hands should be aggressively played to force weaker ones into folding and to raise the value of the pot. There is nothing worse than getting beaten by a pair of unconnected, low-ranking cards when the Flop, Turn and River come in. Especially at a tight 6-max table, where you will be competing against other good players, you need to assert yourself early on by raising your bets.
