Poker is a card game where players place chips (representing money) into the pot over several betting rounds. Each player has a choice of whether to call, raise or fold during a hand. The ultimate goal is to win the pot by making the best 5-card poker hand in a showdown. While a large part of the outcome of any particular hand is dependent on chance, a winning strategy is built around sound principles of mathematics, psychology and game theory.
In the first betting round, called the preflop, all players must place an initial amount of money into the pot in order to participate in the hand. This money is known as the forced bet and comes in three forms: antes, blinds and bring-ins.
Once the preflop betting is over, the dealer deals 3 cards face up on the table that everyone can use, this is known as the flop. After the flop betting round is complete the dealer puts another community card on the table, known as the turn, and then the final betting round takes place to see who has the best poker hand.
A strong poker hand usually consists of 3 matching cards of one rank, 2 matching cards of another rank and 3 unmatched cards. There are also other poker hands that can be made such as a straight, which consists of 5 consecutive cards from the same suit, or a flush, which consists of five cards of one suit. When playing a strong poker hand it is important to bet at it in order to push out players with weaker hands from the pot.