Poker is a card game with many different variations, but all of them involve betting chips. Players put in a mandatory bet, called a blind or an ante, and then they are dealt cards that they keep hidden from the other players. Each player then has the opportunity to call, raise, or fold based on their knowledge of probability and strategy.

Betting is a major part of Poker and the best way to increase tension in an article about the game is to use pacing to describe the action as it develops. You can also add a bit of character detail to help readers get involved in the story. For example, if a player is particularly conservative, you can describe how they tend to fold early in the hand and are easily bluffed by aggressive players.

At the end of each round of betting, the players reveal their hands and the one with the highest ranked hand wins the pot/all bets placed. However, if two players have the same pair (card for card), the rank of the other card determines which hand wins.

If a player is confident that they have the best possible hand, they can continue to bet and may even win a few rounds before others drop out. Usually, after a player has raised the stake a few times, it becomes too large to double and they are forced out by a lack of funds rather than their own decision making abilities.