The object is to win the pot, which is the aggregate of all bets made by all players in any one deal. The pot may be won either by having the highest-ranking poker hand or by making a bet that no other player calls. The following principles apply to nearly all forms of poker.
With poker, to be successful to win you have to be skilled, which requires practice, reflection, and learning form mistakes, followed by more practice, but because of the variability and chance involved in the game, you might have the best hand at the poker table and still lose.