Poker is a card game in which players place bets against each other before revealing their cards. The player with the best hand wins the pot, which is the sum of all the bets placed during the betting round. Players may fold, call, or raise, depending on the situation and their hand strength.

When you’re new to poker, it is a good idea to play relatively tight at the start. This will help you avoid playing too many hands and giving yourself bad odds against other players. For example, if you play a big portion of the hands with a weak hold, it will make it harder for you to outdraw an opponent when you hit your draw.

There are 169 different starting hand combinations. This is because there are 13 card ranks, and you receive two cards for each one.

If a player does not have enough chips to call a bet, they must “drop” (“fold”) their hand. The remaining players then continue the betting.

A player can say, “raise” when they wish to increase the amount of money in the pot. The player’s opponents can either “call” the raised bet, or they can decide to raise their own stakes as well.

More experienced players will usually work out the range of hands that an opponent could have and bet accordingly. This can be done using a variety of online tools and software. However, this is a complex subject, and it is not essential to becoming a strong poker player.