Poker is a card game played between two or more players with cards and money (known as “chips”). Players are dealt two cards, then place bets with the remaining community cards. The player with the highest ranked five card “hand” wins the pot, which is the sum of all bets placed. The game is a fast paced, exciting and social activity. It’s also an excellent learning opportunity and can improve your memory, reasoning skills, and overall cognitive functioning.
It teaches you to separate the known and unknown, the controllable and uncontrollable. It’s easy to get discouraged by a bad hand, but the experienced poker player knows that it’s just part of the game. They will take the lesson learned from the hand and move on. This resilience is a great asset outside of the poker table as well.
It develops your ability to read other people. Most poker players have a strong grasp on the general concepts of reading other people’s body language and facial expressions, but they are especially adept at picking up on the subtle tells that their opponents give away during the game. These tells are often based on things like eye movements, body posture, and even the way that they stack their chips.
It teaches you how to weigh risks and rewards. While there are times to play it safe, pursuing safety will result in missed opportunities where a moderate amount of risk could yield a large reward. This is a very useful skill in life as you make decisions to achieve your goals without knowing the outcome ahead of time.