Poker is a card game that involves skill, strategy, and some chance. Players wager money or chips on an outcome determined by cards randomly distributed to them. The highest-ranked hands win the money. It is possible to lose all of one’s stakes at a table. In such cases, it is common to agree ahead of time how the money will be divided among the players who remain in the hand.

There are many mechanisms by which players misinform one another about the strength of their hands, such as using small bets to keep the pot growing and intimidating opponents into folding before “showdown,” when all remaining players reveal their cards. Some players make an initial amount of money into the pot, called a blind bet or bring-in, which they may raise or fold depending on their cards and how they are played.

Unlike most other games, in which players can see the body language of their opponents and use their knowledge to gain an advantage, poker is a social game that relies on subtle cues and a delicate sense of reading other players. The best poker players are expert at extracting signal from noise across multiple channels and integrating them both to exploit their opponents and protect themselves.

At its core, poker is a competition over money, but there’s something even more fundamental at play: pride. To admit that your opponent might be stronger, smarter, or just plain better than you is a humiliating blow to the ego.