Poker is a card game played with two or more players and involves betting on the outcome of a hand. There are many variations of the game, but all involve cards and chips (representing money). The object of the game is to win the pot, which is the sum of all bets made during one deal. Players place their bets voluntarily, based on a combination of probability, psychology, and game theory. The player who makes the highest-ranking poker hand wins the pot.

A player must raise his bet if another player calls him, or fold if he does not want to raise it further. This is called being “in the pot.” Players who are in the pot may also bet less than the total stake of the player who raised it before them, but if they are not in the pot, they cannot raise their bets further or call the latest raiser’s re-raise.

Self-made billionaire Jenny Just says learning to play poker taught her invaluable lessons about strategic thinking, risk management and confidence. Just, 54, co-founder of PEAK6 Investments, launched the firm after a long career as an options trader in Chicago. But she first learned to play poker when her teen daughter wanted to learn, and quickly realized that the game offered a lot of application for the world of business.