Poker is a card game in which players bet against each other by placing forced bets (ante and/or blind) into a central pot before each round of play. Players may subsequently raise and re-raise those bets for various reasons, including bluffing. The goal of the game is to win all of the money placed in the pot by the players at the table.
There are a number of different poker variants, but most games involve 5 cards and betting in one round. A few earlier vying games are sometimes mentioned, such as Primero (16th – 18th centuries), Brag (17th – 18th centuries), and Bouillotte (18th century). However, the 1944 book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by mathematician John von Neumann and economist Oskar Morgenstern highlighted Poker as a fundamental example of game theory.
Each player is dealt 2 cards, face-down (hidden from other players). There is a betting phase which begins with the player on the left of the dealer. After the initial betting phase, 3 additional cards are dealt face-up in the center of the table (revealed to all players). This is called the flop. Another betting phase begins with the player on the left of the button.
There is a lot that can be learned from the way professional poker players make decisions at the table. They often rely on a variety of sources of information to optimize their decision making. These sources include the rules of the game, the history between the players, and current table dynamics. They also use behavioral dossiers and software to analyze the tendencies of other players. This information is then used to exploit opponents and protect themselves.