Poker is a card game played by two or more players. The game is popular in many countries, and a major international tournament is held every year. The game is a mix of strategy and luck. The game involves betting, and the goal is to win by having the highest-ranking hand at showdown.

There are several variants of the game, but the rules of most versions involve one or more betting intervals followed by a showdown. A player who has the strongest possible hand wins the pot of money, and the player to his or her left collects any side-pots that may have been created.

Professional poker players often use software and other resources to build behavioral dossiers on their opponents. They can also collect or buy records of other players’ “hand histories.” Online poker eliminates in-person knowledge of other players, such as cues like eye contact and body language, but experts are skilled at extracting signal from noise across the internet.

Some players can strategically misinform other players about the strength of their hands by making small bets to keep the pot growing, or large bets to scare other players into folding before showdown. This can be especially effective when there is only one player left who can win the pot of money, which is called a †main†pot.†There may also be multiple winners of different side-pots.