Poker is a game where players bet chips into a pot without knowing what everyone else has. This is similar to deciding under uncertainty in life, whether you’re trying to get through a job interview or making a big investment. Having good bluffing skills can help you win, but you also have to know how much risk to take and when to fold.

The most common moves are check, call, and raise. Each of these has a different meaning depending on what cards your opponent has and how likely they are to make a strong poker hand. For example, if someone checks and you raise, they might be trying to signal that they have a strong hand or might be afraid of your bluff. If they call, it might mean that they have a strong draw or a weak pair.

Every action in a hand of poker tells a story. Unlike other card games, you cannot see what your opponents have in their hands, so you must deduce how strong or weak their hand might be by reading the information they give you through their actions. A check, call, or raise gives you a few bits of information about your opponent’s hand strength, but how long they take to decide on an action is the most telling.

The player who has the best poker hand wins the pot. If no one has a better poker hand, the winner can choose to either call the last raise and stay in the pot (inflating its value) or fold, giving up his stake to the other players.