Poker is a card game where players place bets to form the highest ranking hand, which then wins the pot of money. The game has a number of mechanisms by which players can strategically misinform other players about the value of their hands and intimidate them into folding before \u201cshowdown,\u201d when all remaining players reveal their cards.<\/p>\n
Professional poker players are expert at extracting signal from noise across multiple channels, and integrating this information to exploit their opponents as well as protect themselves. For example, in an online version of the game, where players cannot see one another, players may use software to build behavioral dossiers on their opponents and even collect or buy records of their opponent\u2019s hand histories. The game\u2019s inherent unpredictability offers a rich mosaic of strategies and psychological nuances that can serve as powerful metaphors for creative writing, such as the concept of a player\u2019s \u201cpoker face,\u201d which conceals their true intentions.<\/p>\n