Poker is a card game in which players wager money on the outcome of a hand. It is a game of skill and chance; players can raise bets to make others think they have a strong hand, or they can bluff by betting without having one. The game has many variants, but all share certain basic features. It is usually played with a standard 52-card English deck, although some games allow the use of wild cards (Jokers). It is a table game; the cards are dealt face up and bets are made in turn. Players may choose to discard one or more of their cards, and the winner is determined after all bets are placed and the cards are revealed.

A typical poker hand consists of five cards. The value of a hand is in inverse proportion to its mathematical frequency; the more common a hand, the lower its rank. The suits have no relative ranking in Poker, and ties are broken by the highest unmatched cards (a high pair, for example), or secondary pairs (in a full house, for instance).

A poker story will require some exposition of the rules and strategy of the game. However, a writer can also focus most of their attention on the people at the table and their reactions to the cards they are dealt. By focusing on the by-play, and the tells that players give off, writers can create tension, conflict and an interesting narrative.