Everyone knows about poker. The game is played by people all around the world either professionally or as a leisure activity. Even people who have never played it know some basic rules through books and movies.
About
Poker is a card game where the participants are dealt a set of cards by the dealer. Each participant places an amount as a bet (pot), and they can either raise the amount, match the amount(call) or give up(fold). If all the participants fold, then the money in the pot belongs to the remaining participant. If the participants can’t raise the money, then they fold automatically. In the final round, each person shows their cards and the person with the most value will win the entire amount in the pot.
Strategy
The strategy while playing is a combination of intellect and emotional skills. When you know that you have a low-value set of cards, then logic dictates that you fold. However, in that case, you will never win. You must take some risks to win, and it is done through a process called bluffing. As the name suggests, you behave in a manner that makes others believe that you have a strong set of cards. This makes the other participants nervous, and they will fold which will result in your win. However, to ensure that nobody catches you by your bluff you need to present yourself with an air of confidence and not show your feelings on your face. Just think, if the moment you received your cards, you become happy or sad it is clear to everyone about the set of cards that you have received.
While you are free to bluff others, others are also equally free to bluff you. In such situations, your people skills come into play. How well you understand the human psyche will help you assess whether the person is bluffing or not. Past actions, current actions, and way of speech should all be used to decide whether to fold or not.
Exception
There is one exception and that is the geniuses. These geniuses can discard all social cues and focus on using maths to win the game. It is called counting cards and they see based on the displayed cards, the probability of their victory to take their decisions.
Whether you like it or not pokerteaches you that to be successful in it, you must have some skill just like in the real world.