Poker is a card game played between two or more people. Its main goal is to form a winning hand based on the card rankings and claim the pot at the end of each betting round. Players may also win by bluffing with their hands. The pot is the sum of all bets made by players during a betting round.

The best poker players possess several key traits including patience, reading other players and adaptability. They know when to quit a bad game and try again another day. The more you play poker, the better you will become at reading other players and calculating their odds.

Once each player has a set of cards they must decide whether to fold, call, or raise their bet. A player who calls puts chips into the pot equal to or greater than the previous bet. A player who raises puts more than the previous bet and can only be called by other players with strong hands. A player who folds gives up their cards and is out of the hand for the rest of the round.

One of the most important things to remember is that your hands are only good or bad in relation to what the other player is holding. You can have a great hand like K-K but if the player to your right has A-A then your kings are losers 82% of the time. This is why it is important to play the player, not their cards.