Poker is a game where you compete against other players for the pot (the total of all the bets placed by everyone in a hand). To win the pot you need to form the best poker hand based on card rankings. To do this, you must have good bluffing skills and luck. However, you also need to be mentally tough and not get discouraged by bad beats. Watch videos on YouTube of Phil Ivey taking bad beats and note how he remains calm and doesn’t let a few losses crush his confidence. If you can’t keep your emotions in check, you won’t be able to play the game of poker successfully.
To begin, each player “buys in” for a certain amount of chips. The chips are usually white, but can be any color. Each chip has a different value. A white chip is worth one ante or bet, a red chip is worth five whites, and a blue chip is worth 10 whites. When playing poker you will need at least 200 chips.
Between betting rounds players can choose to check, which means they pass on putting any money into the pot; or raise, which is when a player bets more than the previous player and forces their opponents to call or fold. It’s important to raise often, and not just when you have a strong hand. This forces weaker hands out and increases the chances of yours winning.