Poker is hugely popular and for good reason – it’s fun, social, can be played for money or free, and has a deep element of strategy that keeps players interested as they improve. However, before you can play poker successfully, there are a few things you need to understand.

First, you need to know how the betting works in poker. Each deal of cards is followed by one or more betting intervals, depending on the variant being played. The player to the left of the dealer initiates each betting interval by making a bet of one or more chips (representing money) into the pot. Players may call that bet by putting in the same number of chips into the pot, or raise it by increasing the amount they are putting into the pot. They may also drop out of the betting, which means that they discard their hand and don’t participate in the current deal.

If you’re playing EP, for example, it’s best to only open with strong hands. Then, when other players call your bets, you’ll have a better chance of winning. In addition, you can use your knowledge of the betting patterns of other players to identify conservative players and aggressive ones. Conservative players are easily bluffed by high bets and tend to fold early, while aggressive players often raise their bets before seeing how other players react to their own cards. So be wary of them and learn to read their betting patterns.