Poker is a card game in which players bet against each other. Each player has two cards face down and makes a decision to call, raise, or fold. There are countless variations of poker, but the basic rules are the same. In a poker hand the highest card wins. The value of a hand is in inverse proportion to its frequency, which means that more unusual hands are worth less than common ones.

The first betting round of a hand is called the flop. The dealer deals three community cards that everyone can use to create a poker hand. Once the flop is dealt everyone gets another chance to bet or check. This is the time to learn to read the tells of your opponents, e.g. a player who raises a small bet may have a good hand or just a strong bluff.

When you have a good poker hand and your opponent bets, it is important to know how much of the pot you will win. This is possible to calculate using our Which Hand Wins Calculator.

In addition to understanding the probability of your poker hand, it is essential to understand how much your position and stack size affect your strategy. You can use push-fold charts to help you with this. A push-fold chart is a solved range of optimal bet frequencies for various positions and stack sizes. It shows how often it is profitable to bet in certain situations and which hands you should play or fold.