A game of poker involves betting around a central pot of chips. After a player has placed his or her bet, the cards are dealt one at a time in an order determined by the rules of the specific poker variant being played. The cards may be dealt face up or face down. In most games, players are required to make forced bets, either an ante or a blind bet (and often both). The dealer then shuffles the cards, and each player cuts off their own portion of the deck. Players then take turns placing bets into the pot.

The highest-value hand wins the round and the pot. A player with a good bluffing strategy and luck can win even when he or she has a weak hand.

While the outcome of any particular hand significantly involves chance, expert players base their decisions on a combination of probability theory, psychology, and game theory. Professional players rely on software and other tools to help them extract signal from noise, building behavioral dossiers of their opponents and even buying records of their previous hands.

A good poker player is able to recognize the tendencies of other players and adjust their own gameplay accordingly. For example, some players tend to be conservative, folding early on in their hands. Others are aggressive, betting high early on in a hand before seeing how their cards play. The best poker players learn to identify these tendencies and make intelligent bets to maximize their winnings.