There’s a lot of skill at poker, especially when money is on the line. This article is meant to be a very basic primer into the rules of poker (for more info, read a book).
Players begin with the same amount of money (the ante) and then put the rest of their chips into the pot in a betting round. You can call a bet or raise it. If you call, you match the previous bet and remain in the hand. If you raise, the other players must either call your new bet or fold. You can do this as many times as you like, but you cannot raise your bet by more than another player has raised it.
Once the betting round is over the dealer puts three cards face up on the table that everyone can use (the flop). If you have a strong enough hand you should bet at it to force weaker hands out of the game and raise the value of your hand. You can also try to bluff, but this requires good bluffing skills and is usually riskier than betting at your own hand.
Watching other players and observing how they react is an important part of learning poker. Pay attention to their subtle physical poker “tells” like fiddling with their chips or playing nervously. You should also learn to look for patterns – for example, if a player always calls you can assume that they are holding a pretty strong hand.