The game of poker is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Players must put up an ante (the amount varies by game) to be dealt in, and then place a bet into the pot after each round. The highest hand wins the pot. A full house is 3 matching cards of the same rank and 2 unmatched cards. A flush is 5 cards of consecutive rank in the same suit. A straight is 5 cards that skip around in rank but are not of the same suits.
The dealer is responsible for shuffling the deck and dealing the cards to each player. This person is usually a non-player, but some games use a player chip as the dealer. The dealer is passed on to the next player after each hand.
One of the most important skills in poker is reading other players. This doesn’t just mean observing subtle physical tells, but also paying attention to their betting patterns and how they interact with other players. For example, if a player tends to play only weak hands then you can assume they will fold when faced with strong bets.
More experienced players will try to figure out the range of hands that their opponents might have, and then make moves based on this. For example, if you have a pair of kings and an opponent has a weak kicker then you should probably fold your hand, as it is unlikely that you will beat them.