Poker is a card game that involves betting. Players put chips into a central pot and, in turn, can either call, raise or drop (fold). When a player drops, they leave the hand, forfeiting their bets to the remaining players. After the last betting interval, the cards are revealed in a showdown and the player with the best Poker hand takes the pot.
The strategy in Poker is about extracting the most value from your winning hands, and minimising your losses from losing hands. This is called ‘min-maxing’.
There are many different variants of Poker, but most have a number of features in common:
For starters, there’s the fact that poker is a game of skill. We know this from extensive studies that demonstrate that over a significant number of hands, the effect of chance diminishes or cancels out, and skill dominates.
Another feature is that players must put in a forced bet before they can begin playing, often an ante or blind bet. The dealer then shuffles the cards and deals them out one at a time to each player, starting with the player on their left. The cards can be dealt face up or down, depending on the variant of Poker being played.
Each round is a betting interval and ends when a player puts in the same number of chips as the player to their left, or they “drop.” The remaining players then reveal their hands and the player with the best Poker hand wins the pot.