Poker is a game in which players place bets on the cards they hold, with the highest hand winning all of the money (or chips) in the pot. Players must ante something (amount varies by game, ours is typically a nickel) to get dealt two cards. When betting comes around to them, they have the option to call, raise or fold their hand. Often, people will bluff when they have a good hand to try and force other players to make costly calls when they don’t have the best hand.

There is a risk associated with every reward in poker and life, so players must weigh their decisions with this in mind. Players can maximize their chances of winning by identifying and cultivating their sources of relative advantage, as well as by exercising top-notch execution under pressure. These are called meta-skills and are expressed on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing world-class performance.

Most poker games are played from a standard deck of 52 cards, with the exception of some variants that use multiple packs or wild cards. There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs), and the higher the rank of a card, the more valuable it is. There is a round of betting after each player has received their two hole cards, and once everyone has done so they may choose to either raise, fold or call. Each player must then reveal their cards unless they say “showdown” to reveal that they wish to keep them hidden (e.g., Phil Ivey is an expert at hiding his cards).