A game that requires a lot of mental focus and is highly dependent on chance, poker can be incredibly frustrating to beginners. But if you’re patient, you can learn the game quickly and start winning at a healthy rate. In fact, the divide between break-even beginner players and full-time winners isn’t as large as many people think – it has a lot to do with learning to view poker in a cold, detached, mathematical, and logical way.

When playing poker, each player puts up an amount of money into the pot before they are dealt a hand. This is called the ante. Once everyone has a hand they can either call the bet (put in the same amount as the previous player) or raise it. A player who raises is putting additional money into the pot, potentially scaring off other players who were waiting for a better hand.

After the betting round is over the dealer deals three cards face-up on the table that anyone can use (these are called the flop). Then there is another betting round. At this point, if you don’t have a strong hand you should probably get out of the game.

New players often play too many hands in the early stages of a game. But as you gain experience, it’s important to open your range of hand types and start mixing things up. You should also avoid the temptation to try and put your opponent on a particular hand, and instead work out the range of possible cards they could hold and what their odds are of hitting them.