Poker is a card game in which players wager their chips on the outcome of a hand. Players may raise or fold their cards when it is their turn to act. A player can also choose to call a bet made by another player, in which case they place their chips into the pot equal to the amount called. In addition, players can bluff by betting that they have a good hand when they do not. The other players must either call the bet or concede.
Jenny Just, 54, co-founder of PEAK6 Investments, says that she has found the game of poker to be a valuable teacher about strategic thinking and risk management. She started playing poker with her teen daughter a few years ago, and quickly learned that the skills needed to win were similar to those she had honed as an options trader in Chicago.
The first step in learning to play poker is understanding the rules. The goal of the game is to win the “pot” – the total value of all bets made by all players in one deal. The pot can be won by having the highest-ranking poker hand, or by raising a bet that no other players call.
Each player is dealt two hole cards face up at the beginning of the game. There is then a round of betting, initiated by the two mandatory bets called “blinds” that are placed into the pot by the players to the left of the button.