Poker is a card game in which players place bets on the possibility of making a winning hand. While the outcome of any single hand involves significant chance, the long-term expectations of the players are determined by decisions they make on the basis of probability, psychology and game theory.
To win, you must maximise the value of your winning hands while minimising losses from losing ones. This is known as MinMax.
Generally speaking, the best way to achieve this is by playing against weaker opponents. However, this is not always possible – a better player with superior skill can still beat you even if you have a better starting hand.
In addition, the flop, turn and river can change your chances of making a winning hand – for example, if you have two hearts in your hand and one heart hits on the flop, then you are likely to lose. This is why good poker players often play with weaker hands than they should – to maximise the value of their strong hands and minimise the impact of their poor ones.
Unlike some other gambling games, poker is played without any forced bets. Instead, players voluntarily put chips into the pot when they believe their bet has a positive expected value or to try to bluff other players for strategic reasons. This makes it easier for players to extract more value from their winning hands and make more money in the long run, compared with other gambling games where players must pay an initial amount of cash just to play.