Poker is a card game in which players place bets on the probability that their cards form a winning hand. It is a skillful game that can involve bluffing, wherein players bet that they have a good hand while avoiding calls from players with better hands. A high-stakes game of poker can result in large winnings or large losses.

Several variants of the game exist, but most of them have the same basic elements. Regardless of the specifics, most forms require some form of forced bet at the start of a hand, generally called the ante or blind. This is placed in the pot before the cards are dealt and must be matched by every player.

A player can choose to “call” (match the amount put into the pot by the previous player) or raise the stakes (“raise”). If a player does not call or raise, they must fold their hand. In this case, the player forfeits their rights to any side pots and drops out of the current betting interval.

While a poker game can feel like a random series of bets, it can actually teach valuable leadership lessons. At the NeuroLeadership Summit, author and poker player Maria Konnikova explained how her experiences at the poker table have helped her become more comfortable with uncertain decisions in daily interactions and high-stakes scenarios. She recommends starting a poker journal to keep track of your own bets and how other players react to them. This way, you can learn to spot tells—unconscious habits that reveal information about a player’s hands.