POKER, or DRAW-POKER, a card game said to have originated in the United States, and of which there are several varieties, the most common being draw-poker, played with a pack of 52 cards and any number of players. The game begins by the dealer staking a sum agreed on, called the ante, after which he deals five cards to each person. Each then successively looks at his cards, beginning on the left of the dealer, and according to their value he may either throw up his hand or play, in the latter case putting double the ante into the pool The dealer who looks at his hand last may in like manner either °go out of the game,* or °make good* his ante by adding enough to double it. The dealer then asks those who are to play if they wish to °fill their hands,* that is, receive one or more cards from the pack in exchange for others discarded, or if they will play their original hand. When this is arranged the players, beginning with the one on the left of the dealer, have the °say° as to whether they will now go out of the game and lose their stakes or go that is, add a sum to that already staked. When any one agrees to raise, the next in succession must declare whether he is to go out of the game; °see the raise,* that is, add an amount equal to that just added by the previous player; or °go better,* that is, add more than an equivalent. This goes on till
either all are out but one, who accordingly takes the stakes, or several are left in who all °have seen the raise* but not °gone better.* In this latter case the hands have to be shown, and the holder of the best hand takes the pool. The most valuable hand is when a player has a sequence of five cards of the same suit, called a °straight flush*, the absolutely test hand being the sequence of ace, king, queen, knave, ten. The hands next after a straight flush in descending value are °fours,* or four cards of the same rank and another card; a °full,* or three cards of the same rank with other two forming a pair; a °flush,* that is, five cards of the same suit not in sequence; a °straight,* or sequence of five cards of more than one suit; °triplets,* three cards of the same rank and other two not forming a pair; two pairs ; one pair, with other three cards of different ranks; lastly, the highest card. The cards rank in value as at whist, except that the ace may be the highest or lowest card in a straight. Con sult Foster, R. F., (Practical Poker) (1904); D'Allemagne, (Les cartes a jouer) (Paris (1906) • and Jesse), (Bibliography of Works in English on Playing Cards and Gambling) (London 1905).