Poker is what some would call a game of chance, others would vehemently argue that poker is foremost a game of skill, with players using knowledge of human behavior to determine the outcome of any given hand. How does knowing what humans do have any weight on a game played with cards, and what is poker anyway? Let’s take a little time to learn the game of poker, and by the end you’ll probably be able to understand why poker and human behavior are so closely tied together.

So let’s begin by setting the game up. Start with 4 players. Then make sure that some form of currency is doled out, this doesn’t have to be money. Pennies are always good.

Now comes the deal, where the chosen dealer will deal each person two cards, face down. The person to the left of the dealer starts the betting by putting down a single piece of currency, the next person on the left puts down two. Each player after must match the two chip bet placed or choose not to play the hand. This betting ends when the first person to put down the single chip places a second chip down, or chooses not to.

Following this, another card is dealt to each player face down, and the following card from the deck gets put into a discard pile. Three cards are then placed face up in full view of the players. This pile is known as the “flop” and are a part of everyone’s hand, making every person’s hand 5 cards total-at this point. Another betting cycle occurs and people can choose to bet as much as they’d like, or not at all.

After the betting is finished, one more card is discarded and another card is placed into the communal pile, allowing for 6 cards to decide the make-up of a particular, 5 card total, hand. Then one more round of betting commences. This round of betting is followed by one more card being “burned” and another card being placed into the communal pile. The final betting cycle occurs here, with the final person who placed a bet showing their cards first.