Poker is a card game that can be played by two or more players and involves betting. The object of the game is to win the pot (all of the chips bet so far) by making a good hand using your own 2 cards and the 5 community cards. There are many different variants of the game.
The earliest written mention of poker was in 1872, but it’s likely that the game existed long before that. It was a popular game among American soldiers stationed in Britain at that time.
Writing about poker requires strong skills of observation, analytic thinking and the ability to make your article interesting for a wide audience. You can add interest by focusing on the people who are playing the game, their reactions to the cards that are dealt and by talking about tells (unconscious habits of players that reveal information about their hands).
You’ll also need to be familiar with the rules of poker and how the betting structure changes throughout a hand. A good way to familiarize yourself with these rules is by reading articles and books on the subject.
Keeping your opponents guessing is essential in poker. If they know exactly what you’re holding, it’s very hard to get paid off on your big hands and your bluffs won’t work. A good strategy is to mix up your play style a bit and raise occasionally. This will force players with drawing hands (needing more cards to make a winning hand) to either call or fold and it will increase the odds that your bluffs will succeed.