Poker is a card game that involves betting and bluffing. It requires a high degree of comfort with risk-taking and can be a good way to test your ability to read people. This is especially true if you can pick up on their tells, or non-verbal cues that reveal what they are thinking.

Each player starts with two cards that are hidden from the other players (called their hole or pocket). Then they have to aim to make the best five-card hand using these and the community cards. The highest hand wins the pot, which is all the money that has been bet so far in the round.

If the person next to you raises, say “call” to match their bet. If they fold, say “fold” to give up your cards and not continue betting. Then you can choose to stay in the hand and play the next one, or you can walk away.

There are many different variants of poker, but most have the same basic rules. The first step is to buy in, which means putting down money before the hand starts. Once this is done, the players take turns revealing their hands. The person with the highest hand wins the pot, which is all of the chips that have been bet so far in the round. Depending on the variant, there may also be a discard and replace phase where players can draw one to three new cards.