Poker is a card game that takes skill and strategy. The game has many variants, but all have some similarities. Players take turns betting on their hand. They can fold, check (don’t put any money into the pot), call (match a previous player’s bet) or raise. The higher the bet, the better the hand must be.

The dealer shuffles the cards and cuts them once or more. After this the first of what may be several rounds of betting begins. The action passes clockwise around the table. Early positions take more risk because they don’t have any information on the other players’ hands before acting.

Top players fast-play their strong hands because it increases the size of the pot and can scare off other players who are holding hands that can beat yours. They also know that a slow play can give the impression that they are weak and make other players more likely to try and steal their chips.

One of the most important skills in poker is understanding how to read other players’ actions. This includes knowing how to interpret cues such as eye contact and body language. It is possible to win big in poker without understanding how to read these clues, but most professionals use software and other tools to help them extract and incorporate this information into their strategies. This helps them exploit their opponents and protect themselves from being exploited.