Poker is a game of chance, but it also involves considerable skill. Even when bluffing, players must make informed decisions that take into account their opponent’s tendencies, history of calling bets, and table image. Professionals are adept at extracting signal from noise across many channels, and making decisions based on the resulting picture.
At the highest level, reading your opponents is key to winning. There are a multitude of types of players, from the recreational player who thinks nothing of losing money so long as he can have fun, to the hard-core nit who hangs onto every chip for dear life. Each type must be read and understood, to exploit his weaknesses and protect against his strengths.
In cash games, the game is fast-paced, with players betting continuously until one person has all the chips or everyone folds. In tournaments, the seeding of players is determined by trusted community members who have knowledge of each player’s performance at other events. This creates a fair and balanced tournament based on perceived skill.
At the heart of the game is a central pot of money, collected through forced bets (ante and/or blind bet). Each player must “buy in” with a set amount of chips; the low-denomination chips are usually worth a certain minimum ante or bet, while higher denomination chips represent increasingly larger amounts. Players then “cut” one low-denomination chip from the pot each time they raise a bet, and any chips left in the kitty at the end of the hand belong to each player equally.