Poker is a card game in which players place bets with chips that are deposited into a common pot before the cards are dealt. Depending on the rules of the particular game, one or more players may have to put an initial amount into the pot before their hands are dealt (these are called forced bets and come in the form of antes, blinds, and bring-ins).

The game is usually fast-paced and there’s a lot of betting between hands. Each player has two personal cards in their hand, along with the five community cards on the table (known as the flop). A player can choose to play her cards and risk losing her entire stack of chips by calling the highest bet that’s already out there or she can fold and walk away.

There is a wide variety of players in a poker game, from the recreational player who thinks nothing of losing money to the hard-core nit who hangs on every chip for dear life. It’s important to be able to read these players because their decisions are often based on factors other than their hand strength.

A simple way to categorize players’ playing styles is by assessing their tightness or looseness. Tighter players are more likely to play small bets early in a hand and are easily bluffed by aggressive players who are looking for action. Tighter players also tend to have higher win rates than looser ones.