Poker is more than just a fun game of chance—it’s also a great way to hone cognitive skills. The strategic thinking and decision-making required to excel at the game can have a positive impact on other aspects of your life, from work to personal relationships.
The basic rules of poker are simple: each player places in the ante (a small number of chips) and then receives two cards. Players may then choose to “call” the bet made by the person to their left, or raise it. The person who puts in the most chips wins the pot. The best hand is a straight, which includes a pair of matching rank cards and three unrelated side cards.
One of the most important things to learn about poker is reading other people’s actions. A player’s fold, call, check, or raise tells a story about their current position at the table. In addition to physical cues such as fiddling with their chips or adjusting their hat, there are other non-verbal tells that can be just as important.
Learning how to read these signs is critical to becoming a better poker player. People who fail to do this will end up losing a lot of money because they’ll make bad calls and ill-advised bluffs. They’ll also lose a lot of hands on bad beats, like when they put all their chips in with a pair of Aces and lose to a guy with a pocket 9 on the flop.
