The tables normally have a minimum and maximum ante and you must pay that ante in order to get dealt cards. Each active player and the dealer all get dealt 5 cards. The dealers first card in their hand gets turned face upwards, which provides you with very useful info.

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Now have a look at your hand. It is standard poker rankings:

High card (eg Ace) - worst hand
Pair
2 pair
3 of a kind
Straight
Flush
Full House
Quads
Straight/Royal Flush - best hand

If you like your hand then you should make a bet. To do this you must pay double your ante. eg say you paid a $3 ante. Your main choices are to fold (and lose that $3), or to bet $6 (making a total of $9 as your investment in the hand)

After all players have made their decision the dealer turns over his hand, at which point you normally punch the air, or punch your monitor, depending on the outcome ;)

The dealer needs at least AK in their hand to play (ie to have a qualifying hand). If they dont qualify all hands still live will get paid an amount equivalent to the ante. In our example of the $9 total investment, you will keep your $9 and get $3 profit.

If they do qualify, and if his hand beats yours, then you lose your money ($9). If they qualify, and your hand beats his, then you win an amount relating to your hand strength plus get paid evens on the ante.

A High Card, or a Pair - pays Evens (total profit $9 (3 from the ante, 6 from the bet))
2 pair - pays 2-1 (total profit of $15 (3 from the ante, 12 from the bet))
3 of a kind - pays 3-1 (total profit $21 (3 from the ante, 18 from the bet))
A Straight - pays 4-1 (total profit $27 (3 from the ante, 24 from the bet))
A Flush - pays 5-1 (total profit $33)
A Full House - pays 7-1 (total profit of $45)
Quads - pay 20-1 (total profit of $123)
Straight Flush pays 50-1 (total profit of $303)
Royal Flush - pays 100-1 (total profit of $603)

Some sites have slightly different odds, but generally not by much. Many sites also do an accumulator. They normally work something along the lines of $1 fee to play (pay it at same time as ante), and any player entering who hits a straight flush or a Royal Flush, will win a cut of the accumulator. Usually it is around 10% of the accumulator for a straight flush, and 90% for a Royal Flush.

For example if the accumulator is at $100K, then a $3 ante and $1 accumulator fee, would pay $603 (as normal) plus $90,000 for a Royal Flush.

Although the house do well out of accumulators, making it theoretically not a good bet, personally once the accumulator total gets quite high I dont think it's wise not to play it. Can you imagine a 500K accumulator hitting, and you missing out on $450,000?

Some strategy

Normally if you have at least a pair it is worth continuing (ie betting). But low pairs are quite vulnerable, so a good test for playing low pairs is if they are higher than the dealers upcard. Say for example you had a pair of sixes, they are statistically much more likely to profit if the dealer is showing a 6 or lower.

Along a similar line, AK isnt really that great to play, because you are basically hoping for the dealer not to qualify in order to win $3. However if your next kicker is good eg AKQ43, you might consider it much more than you would with AK643. Most optimal though is to play AKQxx type hands when the dealer is showing an ace or a king. In that scenario their pair possibilities are reduced (as you have an A and K), and they only need to hit 1 card to make a AK, which will likely be weaker than yours (on the 3rd kicker).

As we touched on above, look out for accumulators that are running high (they can get up to millions) and really blitz the tables then, making sure to pay the accumulator qualifying fee obviously. Some sites will even pay a fixed rate on quads or a full house from the accumulator, making it a double winner as you win your normal bet too. On sites which do that I would generally pay the accumulator fee even when the total isnt super high.

Dont gamble too much with nothing (ie gambling on the dealer not qualifying) as that can be a quick way to burn through your bankroll. Make sure you have your minimum hand in mind, and pay close attention to the dealers upcard as discussed.