Call
To call is to match the current bet exactly, which keeps you in the hand without raising the price for anyone else.
A call ends the betting for that round if nobody behind you raises, and it is the only action that can never win the pot on its own. Everything it earns has to come at the showdown or from a later street.
The question a call answers is always a price. What is in the pot, what does it cost, and how often does this hand have to be best for that to be worth it, which is the same arithmetic as pot odds every time.
an example
your cards
board
You hold jack ten on a queen nine four flop, so a king or an eight makes your straight. The pot is 100 and the bet is 25, which asks you to be right 16.7% of the time. Eight outs get there 31.5% of the time by the river, so this is a call.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find call in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Pot odds
Pot odds are the price you are offered on a call: what you have to put in compared with what the pot would be worth to y ...
Raise
To raise is to increase the current bet, which forces everyone still in the hand to match the new amount or give up thei ...
Fold
To fold is to give up your hand and any claim on the pot, which costs you nothing further and returns nothing you have a ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
The full order of play, from the blinds to the showdown.