Poker is a card game played by a group of people sitting around a table. Each player has chips that they can use to make bets during each hand of the game. The player with the highest ranked poker hand at the end of the betting phase wins the pot. The players reveal their cards in turn, starting with the player who placed the final bet of the round.

Depending on the rules of the particular poker variant, some players are required to place an initial amount into the pot before they receive their cards. These are called forced bets and come in three forms: antes, blinds, and bring-ins.

Before dealing cards, a player may choose to “check” (pass) or “raise” (put more money into the pot than the person before him). If a player raises and no one calls their bet, that player is said to have bluffed. If a player decides to drop or fold, they do not put any chips into the pot and are out of the betting for the rest of the deal.

Many poker stories focus on personal anecdotes and details about other players’ behavior. However, a story about poker can quickly become dull or gimmicky if you spend too much time describing a series of card draws, bets, checks and reveals. To keep readers interested, you should focus on the five elements of plot conflict: exposition, rising action, players’ reactions, and showdown.