Poker is a card game in which players compete for an amount of money (called the pot) contributed by each player. Players try to minimize their losses with weak hands and maximize their winnings with strong ones. They also use strategies to misinform their opponents.
The game has many variants, but the basic rules are the same. In most games, the players place an initial contribution into the pot called an ante. Then, after the cards are dealt, betting intervals occur in which players can bet on their hands. At each betting interval a player must put into the pot at least the same number of chips as any preceding player. If a player is unwilling to do this, they must drop out of the pot and give up their rights to any side-pots.
Successful poker players are able to separate their own emotions from the game and read their opponents’ tells. They understand the signals their opponents send through body language and facial expressions, and they use this information to make strategic decisions. This ability allows them to stay calm even when their own cards are bad.
While online poker eliminates in-person knowledge of other players, experts are able to compensate for this by building behavioral dossiers on their opponents and even buying records of previous play. In this way, they are able to exploit their opponent’s weaknesses without risking their own. This is akin to public-private key encryption in computer security.