poker game vs cards

poker game and cards both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
poker game	Yes	No	No	No
cards	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, cards is a hypernym of poker game; that is, cards is a word with a broader meaning than poker game:

poker game: any of various card games in which players bet that they hold the highest-ranking hand
cards: a game played with playing cards

Other hypernyms of poker game include card game.

poker game (noun)	cards (noun)
any of various card games in which players bet that they hold the highest-ranking hand	a game played with playing cards