Poker is a card game where players pay money into a pot in order to compete for the best hand. Some variations of the game require a blind bet before players are dealt their cards, while others don’t. After a player is dealt their cards they can call or raise the bet placed on them by their opponents. Eventually the highest hand wins the pot.

Poker can be played for fun, with friends, or even in tournaments. The latter are known as ‘locals’ or ‘weeklies’ and are often held at card shops, bars, community centres and universities. They tend to be the cheapest way for new players to enter the competitive poker scene and are an excellent place to hone your skills.

It is important to practice and watch experienced players, to develop quick instincts and learn how the game works. Then you can play confidently, without having to memorise complicated systems. Observe how the players react, to build up your own betting patterns and read your opponents more effectively. Conservative players will rarely fold early, whereas aggressive players can be bluffed into folding their hands.

You will have winning hands and losing ones, so you need to maximise your wins and minimise your losses. The aim is to extract the most value from your good hands and to bluff your opponent off their better hands by making them think you have a bad one. This is called minmax (minimise losses – maximise wins). For example, if your opponent has two distinct pairs of cards and you have one pair, then you can say “call” to stay in the pot, or “raise” to add more to the bets.