The game of poker was first developed in the 19th century in the United States. The strong argument is that poker derived from the Persian game of As-Nas as there are also five cards per player taken from a pack of twenty. Essentially poker is a family game played all around the world where participants combine their gambling and their strategy skills. From the 1970’s the game experienced an explosion in popularity creating tournaments worldwide both on an amateur and professional level.

The winner of each hand dealt is determined by the combinations of each players’ cards, which remains hidden until the end of the hand. In the modern game each round is started with one player making a forced bet placing a certain amount of money as a stake. The other players in the round then either ‘call’ (match) or decide to ‘fold’ (opt out) he round. Players can also decide to call the stake and raise it further with an additional amount. The betting ends when all players have either called the last stake or folded. By folding a player places their cards face down on the table in front of them and takes no further part in the round. The eventual winner is decided by the player who has the strongest five cards or who is the only one not folded.  

The winner takes the pot, which will be the collective stakes that have been placed within the round. The stakes are normally made up of plastic chips that have been converted from cash provided by each participant. Professional poker matches are categorized by the total initial entry amount that qualifies the certain number of participants. The game also has several variations in terms of rules and number of cards held. The most popular version is Texas hold ’em. Consistent winners are characterized by the ability to look at a match in the long-run viewpoint of probability, have excellent psychology skills (the ability to bluff) and excellent knowledge of the game.  

The International Federation of Matchpoker or IFMP is a non-profit organization with their headquarters based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The main objective of IFMP is to promote the development of all variations of poker worldwide, which also includes match poker. IFMP build development by increasing member nations and assisting the growth of poker on national levels. In addition, IFMP also manage international and regional competitions. One of the key goals is to have Poker recognized as a Mind Sport.  

There are also two professional wold tour organisations. They are the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker.