Poker and Life

Poker is a card game in which players make wagers by betting their chips on the probability of having the best hand. There are many variations of the game, but the basic rules are the same in all. Players put in a fixed amount of money (called a blind or an ante) and are then dealt cards, which they keep hidden from other players. Each betting interval, called a round, begins when one player makes a bet of one or more chips. The players to his left must either call that bet by putting into the pot the same number of chips as the previous player, raise that bet by adding more chips than the previous player, or drop out of the hand and lose any chips they had already put in.

The goal is to win as many wagers as possible, by having the best hand or making other players think you have a strong hand through bluffing. In life, the same principle applies: Sometimes a person’s tenacity can triumph over someone with the better starting hand.

As each round progresses, more information is revealed about each player’s cards. However, a player’s overall odds remain unknown until the showdown. In both poker and life, it is often prudent to commit resources only when they are likely to yield a high return. Pursuing safety, on the other hand, can result in missing opportunities where a modest risk could yield a large reward.