Poker is a card game of chance and skill in which players bet against one another. Players make bets for various reasons such as a strong hand, fear of losing, bluffing and even for strategic advantages like improving their position at the table. Although the outcome of a single hand is mostly determined by chance, poker players must still make decisions based on probability, psychology and game theory.
A good poker player will try to extract maximum value from winning hands, minimise losses from bad ones and if possible avoid having bad hands at all. This strategy is known as Min-Max (Minimum loss – Maximum gain).
While some players will choose to rely solely on game theory and GTO strategies, others will attempt to deconstruct the reasoning behind each individual hand played at the highest level. As a result, many poker forums are filled with aspirant players analyzing the hands of others in the hopes of gleaning insights on how to improve their own game.
In poker, it is important to mix up your betting style in order to confuse your opponents. If your opponents always know what you have, then they can easily pick off your bluffs and will be more likely to call your raises.