Poker is a game of strategy and chance. It is a great way to test yourself and a window onto the human psyche. However, the element of luck can bolster or tank even a great player. To become a force at the table you must understand the game.
To begin a hand of poker the dealer deals each player two cards face down. These are known as your hole cards. A round of betting occurs and the player with the best five card poker hand wins. Depending on the rules of your game you may also have the option to draw replacement cards after the initial bets.
A good starting hand is a pair of aces or better. If you have a weaker hand it is better to fold rather than trying to improve it. If you are holding a pair of jacks for example, an ace on the flop could spell disaster as the other players might have better pairs.
If you have two deuces you should hold them. The exception to this rule is if they make up Four of a Kind or better. Otherwise you should just call the bets and keep playing.
Once the preflop betting is over the dealer deals three cards to the table that anyone can use. These are called the flop. Once the flop has been dealt there will be another betting round. Then the final card is added, this is called the river.
Throughout the game you must analyze the board and decide what your best move is. If you have a strong hand you should raise and put pressure on the other players to get them to fold. If you have a weak hand it is better to check (match the amount of the bet and stay in the hand) than to raise and put more money into the pot.
If you are in EP, which is the first position, you should be extremely tight and only play good hands. If you are in MP, which is the middle position, you can loosen up a bit and play more weak hands but still be very cautious.
The most popular variant of poker is Texas Hold’em. In this game you are dealt two cards that you hold in your hand and five community cards that everyone can use. You need a combination of these to make the best five card poker hand.
While some bets are forced, the majority of bets in poker are voluntarily placed by players who believe their bet has positive expected value or they want to bluff other players for various reasons.
There are a number of books and courses that can help you learn to play poker. Some of these are a bit basic while others dive deeper into the math behind poker and explain how to think about the game from a 10,000-foot view. A very useful book is Matt Janda’s “Poker and the math of balance, frequencies, and ranges.”