means A card game in which players bet on the strength of their hands, often bluffing to mislead opponents, with the pot won by the best hand or the last player who hasn't folded.

from The name surfaced in early 19th-century America, where the game spread along the Mississippi and through the gambling halls of New Orleans. Its parentage is debated but plausible: many trace it to the French 'poque' (itself possibly from German 'pochen,' to knock or brag) and the older German bluffing game 'Pochspiel.' The English spelling 'poker' likely shaped 'poque' to fit American tongues. A neat lineage, though card-game histories are murky by nature, so treat the French connection as the leading theory rather than proven fact.