Poker is a card game with many forms, but it always involves betting among players who have cards in their hands. Those bets go into a central pot, and the player with the highest hand wins the pot. In most games, each player is forced to put in a certain amount of money (usually called the “blind” or “ante”) before they can place bets. In turn, each player may call a bet by putting in the same number of chips as their predecessors, raise their own bet (“raise”) or drop out of the betting interval completely (“fold”).

At the beginning of each betting interval (often two or more) the dealer shuffles a pack of cards and deals them one at a time to each player starting with the chair on the player’s right. The player on the chair’s right may cut (offer a pack of cards to be cut to the person on their left) or decline it.

Alex dealt himself a pair of kings off the deal (not great, but not bad either). When the betting starts he ‘Checks’ (a term that means calling when you don’t have to) and Charley calls his raise ($0.10 a dime to be exact) so now it’s your turn. You have to discard up to three of your cards, and deal replacements into the pot if necessary. The flop comes Ks-7c2d and you have top pair with the best kicker. This is a good hand that will win.