Poker is a card game played by two or more players. It is a social, recreational, and sometimes gambling game that can be played for pennies or thousands of dollars. It is a game that incorporates elements of chance, psychology, and game theory, but most of the decisions made at a poker table are based on a player’s expected value of his or her action, including raising, calling, and bluffing.

Unlike games such as chess, where all information is revealed at the end of a hand, poker mimics real life and requires resources to be committed before the entire hand has been completed. As additional cards are dealt, more information is available to players but no player has complete command of the facts until a showdown occurs.

The game was developed from a variety of earlier vying games, the earliest being a German card game called Pochen (c. 16th century) which evolved into a French game called Poque in the 17th or 18th centuries and from there into its modern form, which was first popularized on riverboats traveling up and down the Mississippi in the 1860s. Since that time the game has spread to many parts of the world and is played both socially and professionally.

Today’s professional players use a blend of intuition and detached quantitative analysis to make their decisions at the poker tables. The game has become a highly competitive endeavor and it is not uncommon for professionals to play in tournaments with thousands of dollars at stake.