Poker - The Game and its History

Poker is one of the most popular card games around due to the different game variations, the potential for high stakes and winnings, and the shear adrenaline of competing against other people. Strangely, despite Pokers huge popularity and participation, there seem to be differences of opinion on its origin. Moreover, there seems to be no clear or direct early ancestor of the game. And it is more likely that Poker derived its present day form and name from elements of many different games. The consensus is that because of its basic principle, its birth is a very old one. One thing that cannot be disputed is the popularity of the modern game of Poker. If you compare the prizes of major sporting events around the world, you will find that the monetary outcome of any given event in Poker would (pardon the pun) stack up. Poker today is one of the fastest growing, but hardly recognized sporting events. The World Poker Tour could change that. The WPT is a series of televised championship poker events throughout the world and the mission of the WPT is to turn tournament poker into a televised sport (like the PGA did for golf and NASCAR did for stock car racing.)

The pinnacle of the poker world is The World Series of Poker. This annual event attracts players from all over the world every year to compete for money and titles as the world's top Poker players. Every May, the only place poker players want to be is at the World Series of Poker at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas, NV.

The basics of Poker are quite simple and all variations pretty much follow the same premise in that the highest ranked hand wins. Poker hand rankings are listed from highest to lowest below:

• Royal Flush
• Straight Flush
• Four of a kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Two Pairs
• Pair
• High Card

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Poker Variations

The worldwide obsession with poker is no accident. Many of us have been playing poker in casinos for years. Many more of us have played poker at home with our family and friends for even longer.
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Draw Poker Variations

In these types of games, players receive a full hand on the initial deal, and then discard some of those cards, which are replaced with new cards from the deck.

Stud Poker Variations
In most types of Stud games, the players are dealt an initial amount of cards, and then one more card each time a betting round is completed until seven (or five in Five Card Stud) cards are dealt. In a few variations, the players are dealt all of their cards initially, and then reveal cards at certain mandated times during the betting rounds.

Shared-Card Poker Variations
In these types of poker, players are dealt a small amount of cards individually, and then cards are placed in the center of the table that are common to all players.

Miscellaneous Poker Variations
These games are all poker games that use a standard ranking of hands, but aren't dealt as any of the variations above.

Non-Poker Variations
These games are card games that do not use the standard ranking of poker hands to determine the winner.