Poker is a card game in which players place chips (representing money) into a pot before betting. The object is to win the pot by having a higher-ranked poker hand than the other players. Poker is played with anywhere from 2 to 14 players and in a variety of ways.
In most forms of poker, the player who bets the highest is awarded the pot. This may be done either by having the best poker hand or by bluffing. In some games the pot is split between the highest and lowest hands.
Each player is dealt five cards. The value of a poker hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency; that is, the rarer a combination is, the higher the rank. A player may bet that he has the best hand, in which case other players must either call (match) the bet or fold. Players may also bluff by betting that they have the best hand when in fact they do not.
In poker, you must always keep an eye out for tells, or signals that indicate whether a player is bluffing or not. Observe experienced players to learn the subtleties of the game and develop your own instincts. Often it is not the strongest starting hand that wins, but the player with the tenacity and courage to not give up. This applies to life as well; sometimes a person who is not the most talented can triumph through sheer grit over someone with a better academic background.
