Stake placed between poles in French port (6)
I believe the answer is:
nantes
'french port' is the definition.
(I know that Nantes is a port)
'stake placed between poles' is the wordplay.
'stake' becomes 'ante' (stake in poker).
'placed between' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'poles' becomes 'NS' (north and south poles).
'ante' going within 'ns' is 'NANTES'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nantes that I've seen before include "City and port of W. France on the Loire" , "Loire city; its tolerant Edict" , "port abroad" , "Site of historic drownings" , "French city noted for edict" .)