Poker is a card game of chance and skill where players compete against each other. The game consists of several rounds (hands) with betting in each round. The player with the best five-card hand wins the pot, which includes all bets made in previous rounds. A player may also win before the showdown if they are all-in and have callers. There are also side pots for those who have not reached a full poker hand but have contributed money to the main pot.
To make a story about poker interesting it must be realistic and contain tension. The key to this is making the odds of winning appear as if they are growing over time. This will take hours and dozens of hands to achieve and requires research into actual high stakes poker games and how they played out.
A good starting point is to focus on the players and their reactions to the cards they have been dealt. This will reveal a lot about their personalities and motivations. It will also give you a good idea of what sort of bluffs and tricks they use to try to outfox their opponents.
The most important thing to remember when writing about Poker is that it is a game of probabilities, not fixed odds. This means that there is always uncertainty in poker and in life, as you do not know what everyone else will do or how they will play their cards. This is the essence of a story about poker and what makes it compelling for millions of readers.