Poker is a card game in which players place bets into a pot over a series of rounds. The player with the highest ranked hand at the end of the round wins the pot. While the outcome of individual hands is largely determined by chance, strategic decisions made by players on each round can influence the overall odds of winning. These decisions are based on probabilities, psychology, and game theory.
Players start the hand by placing mandatory bets into the pot called blinds. They can then choose to check (pass on betting) or bet, which puts chips into the pot that their opponents must match or raise if they want to remain in the hand. Players can also fold when they think their cards are bad or when they cannot afford to continue playing for the pot.
Getting the most out of your hands is essential to being successful in poker. However, even the best players will lose big pots when they have bad luck. This is just part of the game and should not be a source of frustration. Instead, learn from your mistakes and work on your game to improve. You can start by taking note of which hands are more likely to win and which have a better chance of winning on the flop. These concepts will become second nature and you will develop a good intuition for things like frequencies and EV estimation over time.