This means then that you don't have to put any additional money into the pot. If you are the bettor or raiser and no one calls your last bet, you win the pot. If one or more players do call, then the person with the best hand wins the pot.

Those are the basics of poker. Now, we're going to learn the rankings of hands. A straight flush is five cards of the same suit in a sequence; an ace-high straight flush is called a "royal flush" and this is the best possible hand that one can have in a poker game. Four of a kind is four cards of the same rank, plus an unrelated fifth card that doesn't have any bearing on the hand's value. The higher the rank of the four of a kind, the better the hand is. A full house is three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. The rank of the full house is determined by the three of a kind as opposed to the pair. So, if you have three jacks and two kings, your hand will be ranked by the jacks. A flush is any five cards of the same suit. The cards aren't in a sequence in a flush and so the suit doesn't affect the rank of the flush. If more than one player has a flush, the flush is determined by the rank of the individual's cards, starting with the highest card. A straight is five cards in a sequence -- not all of the same suit.

A tip for the poker player is to realize that poker takes skill and to become good at it, you've got to have...

Good players therefore can beat bad players, but that won't necessarily happen the next time the two players play. The short-term luck is simply part of the nature of the poker game. It's probably one of the elements of the game that keep it popular; however, it can be discouraging when you're the one losing your money to a bad player.
This may seem obvious, but you'll want to protect your hand while playing poker. A lot of people simply don't pay attention to this, however, and have their cards displayed for the world to see. You can't win if somebody knows your cards, no matter how good you are.

Then you'll want to know some poker etiquette: for example, the poker game goes clockwise around the table; you should never "splash the pot" (that is, throw your chips into the pot as then people can't see what you've bet); keep your cards on the table and if you set them down completely, put a chip on them so the dealer doesn't think you've folded; don't talk about your hand during play ("Oh, man! I just threw away an ace and a king!" -- not a good idea.)

Those are the basics of poker as well as some tips and advice on etiquette to go with it. One last piece of advice, you should be always be comfortable with what you are betting. As the gambler said, know when to walk away -- and know when to run.