How a hand plays

A hand has up to four betting rounds:

1. Preflop: you have only your two cards. Action starts left of the big blind.
2. Flop: three community cards appear.
3. Turn: a fourth card.
4. River: the fifth. If two or more players remain after the river betting, hands are shown. That is the showdown.

On your turn you can:

• Check: pass, when nobody has bet this round
• Bet: put chips in first
• Call: match the current bet
• Raise: match it and add more (a raise must at least equal the size of the previous raise)
• Fold: surrender the hand

A round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in). Build one habit now: the pot is not yours until the hand is over. Chips you have already put in belong to the pot, and they should never influence whether you continue. Only the price in front of you matters.