Poker is a card game with a wide variety of variations. While some are more popular than others, they all share the same underlying rules. The object of the game is to win the “pot,” which is the sum of all bets made during a hand. To win the pot, you must have a higher-ranking poker hand than your opponent.
Poker requires mental toughness. The best players know how to keep their emotions in check and stay focused on the game. They also know how to calculate pot odds and percentages, have patience to wait for optimal hands and proper position, and are able to adapt to changing conditions.
The best poker players also know how to read other players and hide their tells. These are unconscious, physical signs that give away the value of a player’s hand, such as eye movements, tics, body language or nervous habits such as biting nails.
It’s also important to understand the order of poker hands and how to rank them. The highest-ranking hand is a Royal flush, followed by a Straight flush, then Four of a kind, three of a kind, two pair and one pair.