Poker is a game that relies heavily on chance and psychology. There is some skill involved in the game and some players can make a very good living from it. The objective of the game is to make the best 5-card hand from the cards you are dealt. The higher the hand, the more money you will win. Poker is usually played from a standard deck of 52 cards with an additional joker or two. Each card has a rank (Ace high, King high, Queen high, etc) and each suit has a value (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs).
Before the cards are even dealt there is usually a round of betting initiated by two mandatory bets called blinds that are placed into the pot by the player to the left of the dealer. These bets create a pot immediately and encourage competition.
Once everyone has their 2 hidden cards a third is then dealt face-up to the center of the table and is called the flop. These are community cards and each player will use them to build their final poker hand. After the flop there is another round of betting that begins with the player to the left of the big blind.
One mistake that a lot of new players make is playing their draws too passively. This is a big mistake because you can lose your entire stack of chips if you don’t get your cards. Instead, bet aggressively with your draws to force weak hands to call you and force them to make their best possible poker hand by the river.