Poker is a card game, usually played with a standard 52-card deck plus a few jokers (or wild cards). It is a fast-paced, high stakes, competitive game of chance and skill.

There is a final betting phase at the end of each round, where players reveal their hands to determine who wins the pot (pot = money that has been put down as buy-in). The player with the best 5-card hand takes all the chips in the pot. The best 5-card hand can be a pair, three of a kind, straight or flush. Some games have additional rules regarding how many of the same suit can be in a hand, and how the cards must be ranked.

The most important thing when writing about poker is to make it exciting. This means writing about the emotions and reactions of the players. If the players are not interesting, it won’t matter how good their hands are; they will never be a draw for the reader.

To make the story more believable, you should use real names for the characters. This will make it easier for your reader to connect with them, and to identify with their actions and decisions. You should also write about the way they interact with each other, such as who flinched, who smiled and who folded. This adds to the drama and makes your story more compelling. It is also a good idea to make sure the poker chips you have are real, or at least look as real as possible.