Pre-1600 First Games: Card games in both France - Gilet - and Italy - Primero - had elements of what we now know as poker: betting on hands with pairs, three of a kind, and three of the same suit.
1600-1790 Evolution: These games spread and evolved into Brag in England, Pochen (Germany), and Poque (France). They even had elements of bluffing, and the names of the German and French versions are obviously very close to the word "Poker". In the German game, players would indicate whether they wanted to pass or open by rapping on the table and saying, "Ich Poche!" However, there a school of thought that claims the Hindu word, pukka, as the origin of poker, and certainly the "pukka sahibs" (the white rulers) in India certainly played a version of such a game.
1790-1830 Poque: In French-speaking New Orleans, sailors from Persia taught the French settlers the gambling card game, Âs, which was derived from the ancient Persian game of Âs Nas. This required a special deck of 25 cards with 5 suits (5 cards per suit total) and was played by four people. The settlers absorbed some of the elements of this game into their own game of Poque, saying, "I poque (pronounced, as the French do, in two syllables - po-que) for a dollar," or "I poque against you for two dollars." The evolving game became known first as "Poqas" , then "Pokah".and finally "Poker".
We can probably ignore other speculation about the name, such as its coming from "poke," a term used by pickpockets, or "hocus-pocus", a term used by conjurors.
From "History of Poker" article by Elkan Allan