Learning How to Play Poker

Poker is a card game where players place bets on the chance of having a high hand. The player with the highest hand wins all the money that has been bet during that particular round of the game, known as a pot. In the event of a draw, the pot is divided equally amongst the players. The game can also be played with a set number of cards dealt to each player.

While it is true that luck plays a large role in the outcome of any individual poker hand, skill can often outweigh luck in the long run. This is because the decisions that players make are based on a combination of probability, psychology and strategy. Moreover, players can improve their chances of winning by making smart game choices, such as selecting the right limits and games for their bankrolls. They can also focus on developing specific skills, such as observing the gameplay of other players and learning from their mistakes.

The first step in learning how to play poker is understanding the game’s rules and hand rankings. Afterwards, you should practice the different betting phases of the game. This will help you understand the game better and develop your own strategy.

Once you’ve got the hang of the basic rules, you should work on improving your physical game. This means working on your stamina, so that you can handle long poker sessions without losing your focus or getting bored. Moreover, you should also practice your mental game, which includes studying bet sizes and positions. The last thing you want is to make costly mistakes that could ruin your entire game.

In addition, you should learn how to read tells and be able to identify bluffs. This will allow you to avoid calling bad bets and lose a lot of money over the long term. Additionally, you should learn to avoid the two biggest emotions that kill poker: defiance and hope. The former leads to bad decisions like trying to call a raise with terrible cards, and the latter keeps you in a hand even when you know that you’re going to lose.

You should also work on your ability to calculate ranges. While new players will often try to put an opponent on a specific hand, experienced players will instead attempt to work out the range of hands that their opponents might have. This allows them to better predict their opponents’ bets and make more profitable calls.

Finally, you should work on your reading skills so that you can quickly find the relevant information in a poker book or article. This will save you time and allow you to concentrate on other aspects of your game, such as analyzing bet sizes and determining optimal betting strategies. In addition, you should make it a priority to read two poker guides a week, as this will greatly improve your poker skills.

How to Get Unstuck at Work

If you feel stuck at work, know that you are not alone. It is a nearly universal human experience to feel stuck at some point in your professional life or in identifying the next goal to focus on. This feeling often comes as a result of putting so much energy into perfecting an action, project or process that you get lost in the details and are unable to see the big picture. It is also common to feel this way when you are unable to find a balance between your personal and professional lives. Getting stuck is an opportunity to take a step back and assess where you are. The end of one year and the beginning of another can offer a bit of distance from work, making it easier to view your situation with new objectivity and clarity.

To be stuck is to be in a place where you cannot move forward without some sort of external help. Like a boat that has run aground or a car stuck in the mud, you may feel a sense of helplessness. Unlike these examples, however, being stuck in life is often a matter of choice, state of mind and perspective.

Changing the way you look at your situation can create a sense of agency and freedom to change. Seeing your circumstances through a different lens can give you the opportunity to choose different actions, which may lead to different outcomes.

In a similar way, your personal values can be a great guide when you feel stuck. If you value relationships and loyalty more than grit and determination, you may need to make some shifts in your priorities. Identifying a deeper purpose can be another great resource when you are feeling stuck. Finding meaning and passion in what you do can give you motivation to push through feelings of stuckness and move forward toward a greater good.

A few ways to get unstuck include:

Try taking a break from your writing and doing something else that you enjoy for a short period of time, like going on a walk, playing with a pet, calling a friend or doing something creative like coloring in a book. Refocusing on something different will help clear your mind and can prompt new ideas about what you want to write about. Another option is to listen to episode #12 and #13 of the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast, which are all about narrative drive and identifying your story’s genre. Each content genre focuses on a certain theme or topic, like love, survival, meaning, growing up, etc., and evokes certain emotions in readers, so knowing your genre can help you determine the best strategies to overcome your stuckness. If you’re ready to break out of your stuckness and get back to writing, reach out to a BetterUp coach today! Our coaches can provide the support and guidance you need to make meaningful changes and become your best self.

How to Manage Your Crush

A crush is an intense emotional interest in someone that can develop into a romantic relationship. The feelings of a crush can make you feel happy, excited, and nervous. Having a crush is common for people of all ages and can be a normal part of growing up. But it’s important to manage your crush carefully and avoid unhealthy behavior that could hurt the person you have a crush on.

The word crush comes from the Latin “crumsus,” which means ‘broken, beaten down, or ground underfoot’. It first appeared in the English language around 1330. It’s also related to the verb ‘crushe’, which means to pound or grind something until it becomes dusty and small.

When you have a crush, you want to spend time with that person as much as possible. You may try to impress them by telling them about your accomplishments or bragging about how cool you are. You might even interrupt other people to talk about your crush. Crush can also cause you to be nervous and shy. You might blush when your crush talks to you, or you might feel like you don’t have anything witty to say. Some kids might tease their crush by chasing them or calling them on the phone. This can make the person you have a crush on uncomfortable and may lead to them not wanting to talk to you anymore.

People who are in committed relationships can still have a crush, but it is more like an attraction from afar than a true love connection. Research suggests that a crush is often a way to fill unmet emotional needs. For example, a person with a crush may seek attention and contact from the person they are interested in to get over feeling rejected or abandoned by their own partner. Talking with a therapist can help people build self-awareness and learn how to meet their own emotional needs in healthy ways.

Hulu’s new teen drama Crush reworks the template of heterosexual rom-coms to create a queer teenage romance. It follows sapphic protagonist Paige Evans (Rowan Blanchard) as she navigates her fifth-grade crush on Gabby Campos (Isabella Ferreira) and her artistic angst. The movie has a great cast, but it lacks the tummy-tickling humor that carries the best of its peers.

In the movie, Paige and AJ don’t connect until a series of circumstances brings them together, from Coach Murray’s (Aasif Mandvi) encouragement for Paige to improve her track performance to a party at Stacy’s (Teala Dunn) house where they both end up sleeping in the same room during an overnight track meet. The movie has a few good jokes, but it feels too much like a typical rom-com to capture what it means to have a crush as a queer teen. That said, it is a solid effort for its first feature and worth checking out.