Poker is a card game in which players make bets based on the strength of their hands. It is also a game of storytelling, and every action — fold, call, raise, or even the way it’s done — communicates information to your opponents. The best poker players know how to pick up on these tells and use them to their advantage.

The game starts with the dealer shuffling and cutting the deck, then dealing cards to each player one at a time. Cards may be dealt face-up or face-down, depending on the variant being played. Once everyone has their cards, the betting begins. In each round, players can either fold (end their hand), call (match the previous player’s bet), or raise (bet a higher amount than the previous player). The betting continues in this order until only one player remains in contention. At that point, all bets are collected into a single pot and the winning hand is revealed.

In general, the more players there are in a hand, the harder it is to win. This is because there are more outstanding hands that can beat yours, and larger bet sizes mean that you’re at a much higher risk of losing your entire stack to one mistake. However, if you’re skilled at bluffing, you can force weaker hands out of the pot and make the pot bigger for yourself.