The earlier version of the game in English was called brag. 'ut without documentation these explanations are mere speculation'.
A popular alternative theory traces the word to French poque, also said to have been a card game resembling poker. Card game for two or more played with a full pack, 1834, American English, of obscure origin, perhaps from the first element of German Pochspiel, name of a card game similar to poker, from pochen 'to brag as a bluff,' literally 'to knock, rap' (see poke (v.)).
