Poker is a game that requires a high level of thinking and strategy. The goal is to win as many hands as possible by minimizing your losses when you have losing hands, and extracting maximum value from winning ones. This is known as min-maxing.

During the course of a hand, the players place bets and raises on each other’s actions to build up the pot size. The dealer then shuffles the cards and deals each player a number of cards. Depending on the variation, some of the cards may be face up and others face down. The dealer then collects all of the bets and places them in the central pot.

As a poker player, it is important to be able to think under pressure and make decisions quickly. It is also crucial to be able to read your opponents’ tells. These can be subtle, such as a player with his hand on his chin acting bored when the flop comes. Or it could be something more obvious like a player who makes a big bet on the turn when he is holding a straight.

If a player is not paying attention to the action at the table and fails to act in their turn, the poker dealer should politely notify them that it’s their turn. This is to prevent other players from making decisions on their behalf without the necessary information and to ensure gameplay etiquette is maintained.