Poker is a card game played by two or more players and involves betting. The object is to win the pot, or aggregate of bets placed during a hand. There are many variants of poker, but the game is essentially the same in all of them. The first player to act after receiving his cards has the privilege or obligation (depending on the rules of the specific game) to place in the pot a number of chips representing money which is at least equal to the total contribution of the players who have come before him.

In addition to the pot, there may be additional forced bets called antes or blinds. These bets are made before the deal is dealt and help to add value to a hand.

Professional poker players are adept at extracting signal from the noise and integrating information from multiple channels to exploit their opponents and protect themselves. They use a combination of in-person and electronic cues to determine the strength of other players’ hands, including eye contact and body language, and often collect behavioral dossiers on their opponents and even buy records of other players’ ‘hand histories’.

A winning hand in poker is a pair of high cards, or a straight or flush. If a player has a pair of low cards, it is better to fold than continue to bet. In some situations, it is advantageous to bet big during a hand, so as to encourage other players to call your bet and allow you to get rid of a bad one.