Poker

poker
    n 1: fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to
         stir a fire [syn: {poker}, {stove poker}, {fire hook},
         {salamander}]
    2: any of various card games in which players bet that they hold
       the highest-ranking hand [syn: {poker}, {poker game}]
    

Poachard \Poach"ard\ (p[=o]ch"[~e]rd), n. [From {Poach} to
   stab.] [Written also {pocard}, {pochard}.] (Zool.)
   (a) A common European duck ({Aythya ferina}); -- called also
       {goldhead}, {poker}, and {fresh-water widgeon}, or
       {red-headed widgeon}.
   (b) The American redhead, which is closely allied to the
       European poachard.
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   {Red-crested poachard} (Zool.), an Old World duck ({Branta
      rufina}).

   {Scaup poachard}, the scaup duck.

   {Tufted poachard}, a scaup duck ({Aythya cristata}, or
      {Fuligula cristata}), native of Europe and Asia.
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Poker \Pok"er\, n. [From {Poke} to push.]
   1. One who pokes.
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   2. That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal
      bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals.
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   3. A poking-stick. --Decker.
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   4. (Zool.) The poachard. [Prov. Eng.]
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   {Poker picture}, a picture formed in imitation of
      bisterwashed drawings, by singeing the surface of wood
      with a heated poker or other iron. --Fairholt.
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Poker \Pok"er\, n. [Of uncertain etymol.]
   A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about
   1835 in the Southwestern United States. --Johnson's Cyc.
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   Note: A poker hand is played with a poker deck, composed of
         fifty-two cards, of thirteeen values, each card value
         being represented once in each of four "suits", namely
         spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The game is played
         in many variations, but almost invariably the stage of
         decision as to who wins occurs when each player has
         five cards (or chooses five cards from some larger
         number available to him). The winner usually is the
         player with the highest-valued hand, but, in some
         variations, the winner may be the player with the
         lowest-valued hand. The value of a hand is ranked by
         hand types, representing the relationships of the cards
         to each other. [The hand types are ranked by the
         probability of receiving such a hand when dealt five
         cards.] Within each hand type the value is also ranked
         by the values of the cards. The hand types are labeled,
         in decreasing value: five of a kind; royal flush;
         straight flush; four of a kind; full house (coll. full
         boat, or boat); flush; straight; three of a kind; two
         pairs; one pair; and, when the contending players have
         no hands of any of the above types, the player with the
         highest-valued card wins -- if there is a tie, the
         next-highest-valued card of the tied players determines
         the winner, and so on. If two players have the same
         type of hand, the value of the cards within each type
         determines the winner; thus, if two players both have
         three of a kind (and no other player has a higher type
         of hand), the player whose three matched cards have the
         highest card value is the winner.
    

Poker \Pok"er\, n. [Cf. Dan. pokker the deuce, devil, also W.
   pwci, a hobgoblin, bugbear, and E. puck.]
   Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to
   haunt the darkness; a bugbear. [Colloq. U. S.]
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POKER, n.  A game said to be played with cards for some purpose to
this lexicographer unknown.
    

24 Moby Thesaurus words for "poker":
      andiron, chain, coal tongs, crane, crook, damper, fire hook,
      fire tongs, firedog, grate, grating, grid, griddle, gridiron,
      grill, griller, lifter, pothook, salamander, spit, tongs, tripod,
      trivet, turnspit