Poker is a card game in which players place chips (representing money) into the pot according to the rules of the particular poker variant being played. When a player’s turn comes, they may Check (match the bet and forfeit the hand), Raise or Fold.

While it’s a fact that poker is a gamble, it’s also true that the skill of a player makes a significant difference in the outcome of a hand. Players who learn to exploit their opponents and make smart decisions will usually win more often than those who don’t.

However, even the most disciplined poker player will lose some hands from time to time. Sometimes a bad beat will be so crushing that it can throw you off your game entirely. It can feel like you’re staring down a pack of rabid zombies, ready to be yanked screaming into the darkness or chomped into pieces.

When this happens, don’t just sit back and whine about how bad you were dealt a hand. Instead, try to identify weak aspects of your game and work on fixing them. One such area that many new players struggle with is understanding ranges. Ranges are a way of quantifying the probability that an opponent holds a certain type of hand. It’s important to understand ranges in order to make better decisions about whether or not to call a raise. It’s also important to read your opponents and look for tells, which are signals that indicate a player’s strength or weakness.