The object of poker is very simple ? to win the money in the centre of the table, called the pot, which contains the sum of the bets that have been made by the participants of that hand. Players make their bets or wagers on the belief they have the best hand or in the hopes they can make a better hand give up, abdicating the pot to them. There is an old poker expression which states that a bet saved is a bet earned. This underscores the concept of discretion being the better part of valour and not continuing to call bets made by others, unless you believe you have the best hand. You may have heard the same concept expressed by the sage advice of ?don?t throw good money after bad?