If you’re serious about poker, you need to commit a lot of time and effort to learning. The most successful players spend more than half their time in study and review. They also try to keep their playing time relatively low so that they can devote enough time to the study game. Some pros recommend a 3:1 ratio for starters – meaning for every hour you spend in the game, 45 minutes should be playing and 15 should be studying.

The first thing to learn about is the terms used in the game. The ante is the amount of money that must be placed into the pot before any action begins. The blinds are mandatory bets made by two players to the left of the dealer. If you want to raise a bet, say “call” and place the same amount of chips into the pot as the person before you.

When the flop comes, you may have any one of a number of hands. A straight contains 5 cards of consecutive rank in the same suit, a flush contains any 5 cards of different suits that skip around in rank and/or sequence, and 3 of a kind has 2 matching cards of the same rank and 3 unmatched side cards.

To increase your odds of winning, play a strong hand when the flop comes. However, you should not be afraid to fold if you have a weak one. It’s better to get out of the hand early than to continue betting into it and possibly ruining your chances of getting a good hand on the turn or river.