Poker is a card game for two to 14 players where you compete against the other players in a betting round. The objective is to win the pot, which is the sum total of bets made by all the players on a particular deal. The best hand wins the pot. There is also a great deal of psychology and bluffing involved in the game.
Players make forced bets – the amount varies by game and can be either an ante or blind bet – before they are dealt cards. A player must then choose to raise, call or fold their hand. If they raise, they must continue to raise as the betting rounds continue. In most games, there is a ‘rake’ (the percentage of each pot that is taken by the house) which players are required to pay.
Once the bets have been placed, the dealer shuffles the cards and deals them to each player, starting with the person to their left. If a player does not want to cut, they must offer the pack to the player on their right for a cut.
A good strategy for playing poker is to extract as much value from your winning hands as possible and minimise losses from losing hands – this is called MinMax. This requires the ability to read your opponent and know when you have a strong hand and when to bluff. It also requires a comfort with risk-taking – you need to be willing to take risks and understand that some of them will fail. Just says that she learned this as a young options trader in Chicago and has found it equally applicable to her poker career.