Poker is a card game played by two or more players. The game can be played with one or more decks of cards, and it may or may not use wild cards (also known as jokers).

Each player is dealt 2 cards face down. A round of betting, called the flop, is then conducted starting with the player to the left of the dealer. The players can call, raise or drop. Dropping means that the player puts in no chips, discards their hand and is out of the betting until the next deal.

In addition to the flop there is another card dealt face up, called the river. The final round of betting takes place again with the player to the left of the dealer starting the betting. After this there is a showdown where each player reveals their cards and the best poker hand wins.

It is important to learn how to read players’ betting patterns. You can identify conservative players by their tendencies to check when they should bet and aggressive players by their tendency to over-bet. Aggressive players are also more likely to make bluffs and can be bluffed into folding.

Besides reading players, it is important to understand the odds of getting a winning poker hand. Knowing the odds of a particular hand will help you decide whether to call or raise a bet. In the case of a raise, it is important to remember that the higher your bet, the higher the odds that you will win.