Welcome to Poker Primer, your no-nonsense guide to the game of Poker. No matter how well you know the game, the site will have something to offer you. If you've never played Poker in the past, you can read this site as a book, in sequence. For quick refreshers, feel free to jump around using the menu on the left.

It is no secret that Poker has maintained its popularity through the years. This game is played in living rooms among friends as well as in multi-million dollar tournaments that involve celebrities. There are many variants with different rules - some are hugely popular, some obscure. In this Primer, we will tell you about a few of them, as well as showing you some tips on how you can play like a pro! But first, a little history...

There is no one date in history that you can point to and say "Happy Birthday" to the game of Poker. Most gambling historians believe that Poker gradually evolved from European card games including the 18^th century French game called poque or the German game called pochspiel. There is even an American claim to the game by an early American writer named Jonathan H. Green who observed an un-named card game being played on Mississippi River gambling boats and decided to name it Poker.

One thing we know is true: Whether the game evolved from France, Germany, or the Mississippi River, the various forms of Poker are the most popular card games in the world.