Poker is a card game where players compete to win the pot, which consists of all bets made during a hand. The game can be played with any number of players, but the ideal number is 6 to 8. The player who has the best poker hand wins the pot. Players may also bluff, betting that they have a superior hand when they do not, in order to induce other players to fold their hands.

The element of chance in poker decreases as the number of cards dealt increases, but it does not disappear completely. The deciding factor in most hands is still the strength of one’s opponent’s hand. A good poker player can improve his or her chances of winning a hand by analyzing the strength of opponents’ hands and by observing how they play.

A basic rule of poker is to “play the position.” This means acting last during the post-flop portion of a hand, raising more hands than an opponent would, and calling fewer weak hands in late position. This principle, along with a good knowledge of the game’s fundamentals, maximizes a player’s expected value.