Poker is a card game in which players form hands based on the ranking of cards. The player with the highest hand wins the pot at the end of each betting round. The pot consists of all bets made by the players at the table, including mandatory bets (antes and blinds) placed into the pot before dealing cards.

Besides the cards, a significant part of poker is reading your opponents. In live games, this can be done by observing their body language and eye contact. However, online poker is more difficult as the game eliminates physical cues. Nonetheless, professional poker players have perfected the art of extracting signal from noise and using it to exploit their opponents and protect themselves.

Being last to act gives you an advantage because you can see how your opponent reacts. This can help you to gauge the strength of their hands, and adjust your own bet size accordingly. It also gives you the opportunity to inflate the pot further if you have a strong value hand. Alternatively, you can exercise pot control if you have a weak or drawing hand.

In poker, as in life, the key to success is knowing how to balance risk and reward. Never bet more than you can afford to lose. Moreover, it’s important to choose the right table, as different games attract different types of players. For example, a $1/$2 cash game may consist of an aggressive group, while another table might be slow and full of amateurs.