Poker is a game that is played using 5 cards and is in a category of vying games. These are games where players will place bets as to who is holding the best card combination of partially of fully concealed cards. This will result in players raising the stakes until there is either a showdown and the winner then takes the whole pot or all players but one has stopped betting and therefore the remaining player wins the pot.

The history of poker is clouded in some debate; however, the word poker is probably derived from the French word "Poque" which means to knock. There are variations of this word and the German version "Pochen" also has the same translation.

Some sources state that early versions of the traditional poker game were first seen in New Orleans. The game appears to have been passed on by Persian sailors who brought their game of "Nas" to New Orleans where they taught it to French settlers. The French game of "Brelan" also appears to have influenced the development of poker and the English game of "Brag" was a descendant of the Brelan game. These games required players to use the bluffing technique and it seems that this part of the game clearly influenced the early poker games.

There is a widely respected account of an English actor by the name of Joseph Crowell who witnessed that early poker games were being played in 1829. He stated that the game was being played using a deck of 20 cards and those players were betting on the most valuable hand. It is noted that historically, the game spread from New Orleans via Mississippi riverboats to the rest of America. Gambling was a favoured pastime on the riverboats and this increased its popularity and exposure.

Through the increased exposure of the game, additions were being made as to how the game was played. The 52 card deck was introduced to enable more players to take part and during the American Civil War further variations appeared to the game. Draw poker became popular where each player tries to enhance and develop their game by drawing and replacing cards. Stud poker was another variant of the game whereby players receive a mixture of face-up and down cards via a number betting rounds.

The rest of the world appears to have adopted the poker game via the US Army; they seem to have taken the game firstly to Asia where it gained prominence. From there it went onto to be picked up by other parts of the world.

Poker really enjoyed major success with the development of tournament play. This is where players gather to play poker and are subsequently knocked out of the tournament when they lose. Players will pay an entrance fee to participate in the tournament and the prize money is usually determined by how many players are in the game and how much they have paid to take part.

Poker has really been transported into the 21st Century with the advent of cable and satellite television. Cable and satellite channels have picked up on poker being a great spectator sport and now show poker tournaments live on television.