Poker is a card game of strategy and risk that requires skill, luck, and psychology. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to win the pot by having the best hand of five cards – or convincing your opponents that you do. The rules of poker vary by game, but there are some basic principles that should be mastered before moving on to more advanced strategies.

Each round of betting starts when a player in turn makes a bet of one or more chips into the pot. Players must either call that bet by putting in the same amount of chips, raise it by putting in more than the previous player did, or fold. If a player folds, they are out of the current betting round and cannot participate in any future rounds.

A player with a high-quality hand can win the pot by making a bet large enough to put out other players. This is called a value bet. Generally, good players will try to avoid calling value bets from weaker hands.

Experienced players will use ranges to make educated guesses about what their opponents are holding. This gives them an advantage over newer players, who will usually just try to put their opponent on a specific hand.