Poker is a card game where players bet into the pot based on their hands. The highest hand wins the pot/all bets.
Teaches emotional control in changing situations
One of the key things that poker teaches is how to control your emotions. This is important in life, especially when dealing with stress or difficult people. Poker can be a stressful game, and even on the best nights players still lose a lot of hands. However, a player has to remain calm and courteous regardless of what kind of mood they are in, in order to be a professional.
Improves critical thinking skills
Poker requires a certain amount of analytical thinking to succeed at it. It also teaches you how to assess the quality of your own hand, which is a skill that can be useful outside of the poker table. It is an excellent way to learn how to calculate odds and probabilities, and it pushes your mental arithmetic abilities in the right direction.
Improves assessing risk
Poker can teach you how to assess risks correctly, which is important in business. It can help you avoid making poor decisions like dumping too much money in a hand that you are not sure about. It can also help you decide when to be cautious and fold, or be more assertive and raise a hand that you think is strong.