The game of poker has many variants. In most, one or more players are required to place forced bets before they see their cards; this is known as the ante or blind bet. Cards are then dealt, usually face down, and betting begins. There are often multiple rounds of betting in a hand, and at the end of each round, all bets are collected into the pot.
It is important to learn the basic rules of poker. This includes knowing the ranks of different hands and what beats what (e.g., a flush beats a straight). It is also useful to learn how to read other players and watch for tells. Tells are not just the nervous gestures you might expect, but can include the way a player holds their chips, the frequency with which they bet and how quickly they call or raise.
A good strategy in poker is to always try to bet if you can, rather than limping. This will allow you to put better hands into the pot and take out worse ones. Occasionally, it might be appropriate to fold, but most of the time, you should be raising your bets to price all of the weaker hands out of the pot.
Poker is almost always played with chips that represent money, and a standard set usually consists of white chips worth a specified value, such as five; red chips; and blue chips that may be worth 10, 20, 25, or more whites. Each player must have enough chips to place a bet in each betting interval, or “round.”