Poker is a card game that’s popular with millions of people around the world. It can be fun and exciting, but it takes skill to win at.

The rules vary by the variant of poker being played, but the basic strategy remains the same. Players are dealt cards face-down, and they must then bet money into the pot.

Betting on your hand is the most important part of the game, and it’s vital to know how to read other players. There are two main types of players: conservative and aggressive.

You can tell a player is conservative by their betting patterns: they usually bet low and fold when they have good cards. Aggressive players tend to bet high and bluff more often.

A poker player’s tell is their unconscious habits and actions that let other players know what they are thinking or feeling. These can include eye contact, facial expressions, body language, and gestures.

When you’re playing a game of poker, you should always say “raise” when you want to add more money into the betting pool. The other players will then go around in a circle and choose to either “call” your new bet or fold.

Another common poker tell is to say “check” when you don’t have a good hand but still want to keep betting. This is a good way to force weaker hands out of the pot, but it’s also a bad idea to do this too often.