Poker is a card game that involves betting. Players place bets into a central pot, and the player who has the highest ranked hand when the cards are shown at the end of a betting round wins the pot. The game is played with a standard pack of 52 cards (with some variant games using multiple packs, adding jokers, or changing the ranking of certain cards).
In most games, each player must make an initial forced bet before being dealt cards, called the ante. Once everyone has acted by either folding their hand, calling the blind bet, or raising their own bet, the dealer shuffles and deals all players their cards one at a time starting with the player to their left. Cards can be dealt face up or down. The first betting round then begins. Each subsequent betting round may involve one or more bets.
While a good portion of a winning poker hand involves chance, the game also has a lot to do with psychology and strategy. Bluffing is a primary element of the game, and there are a number of strategies that can be employed to win.
If a narrator wants to write about a poker game, it is important to have an understanding of the game and its various rules. It is also helpful to have a good grasp of tells, which are unconscious habits a player uses to reveal information about their cards. For example, a tell can be as simple as a change in eye contact or as complex as a body language gesture.