If you want to learn how to play poker, you should start by finding someone who hosts friendly home games. This way you can enjoy the game in a relaxing environment & make new friends while learning the rules. This is especially important if you’re going to be betting real money. You don’t want to end up losing your car or house in a few bad hands.

Depending on the game rules, players will place an initial amount of money in the pot before being dealt cards. This is called an ante or blind. When it’s your turn, you can choose to raise or call. You can also fold when you don’t have faith in your cards & don’t want to keep playing for the pot.

Each player has two personal cards that are known as hole cards & five community cards that are dealt in three stages, a series of three cards called the flop, then a single card called the turn & finally a final single card called the river. The player who has the best five card poker hand wins the pot.

The highest hand is a Straight which consists of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit, for example Ace, King, Deuce & Jack. A Full house is made up of 3 matching cards of one rank & 2 matching cards of another rank. A Pair is made up of two cards of the same rank & two unmatched cards.