Poker is a card game for two to 14 players with a wide variety of rules. The objective is to win a pot, the sum of all bets made in one deal. Players can raise, call, or fold their hands. A player may also choose to “check,” which means they pass on betting (although they still have to place chips into the pot).
Writing about poker can seem like a daunting task because it’s a fast-paced, high stakes game with many different types of bets and strategies. But by focusing on character, story conflict and descriptive details you can write an engaging scene that feels realistic and authentic.
To help with this, it’s important to get inside the head of a poker player. A good way to do this is by examining their physical tells, which are unconscious behaviors that reveal information about a player’s hand. These can include anything from eye contact, facial expressions, body language and gestures.
Early vying games include Belle, Flux and Trente-un (French, 16th – 18th centuries), Gilet under various spellings (17th – 19th century), Post & Pair (18th century), Brag (19th century) and Bouillotte (20th century). The spread of poker to English society is largely credited to General Schenck, the American ambassador to Britain. He is said to have taught the game at his weekend country retreat in Somerset in 1872. The English version of the game uses the full 52-card deck and introduced several American developments, such as stud poker.