The game of Poker has many historical origins. It was originally a game played on the Mississippi river, and it is believed that a gentleman by the name of Jonathan H. Green attached the name “Poker” to it after observing the game on a riverboat. It was a game of two to four players, played with a deck of cards containing only Aces. Several games of poker have evolved from these original variations.

The most common poker game is Texas Hold’em, which is a form of community card poker. Players build 5-card hands of five cards. Each player begins the game by placing ante and blind bets. In Texas Hold’em, there is also a big blind, which is twice as large as the small blind. The player to the left of the dealer places the small blind, and the next player makes the big blind. A player can raise his bet if he thinks the other player is bluffing.

In traditional Poker games, the player with the highest hand wins. Other games may split the pot between the lowest and highest hands. In a flop game, the high card wins if no player has a pair. In a tie game, the high card wins. If a player has two pairs, but no pair, the other player’s high card wins. A straight is also a winning hand, but it is rare to win a hand with three or more pairs.