Poker History

Who knows what the real origin of poker is? Where it comes from, and who played the game for the first time? For all we know, poker could have been played since the beginning of times. But that's likely a huge exaggeration since it's hard to imagine innocent Adam and Eve playing poker in Paradise. In fact, since poker saw so many changes throughout its existence, the version we are familiar with today is probably very different from the original game. Although it's difficult to trace these changes one by one, we will try to unveil the mystery that is 'poker.'

The history of poker is believed to to have evolved over several centuries from games involving card or domino ranked combinations. The use of bluffing strategies designed to deceive opponents was definitely there from the very beginning. According to one highly popular belief, a game bearing with a striking similarity to poker was invented by the Chinese anywhere before 969 A.D. It is said that the grand Emperor Mu-tsung played some sort of 'domino cards' with his spouse. Another belief, however, alleges that 12th and 13th centuries Egyptians played with a form of gaming cards, and that in 16th century Persia "Ganjifa" cards were employed for a selection of betting games. A Ganjifa deck featured 96 playing cards, typically made of very thin slices of wood. The Persians were reported as playing a game by the name 'As Nas' which involved 25 cards, betting rounds and a hand ranking system.

The name of the game, poker, is almost impossible to trace as well. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the French were very enthusiastic about a game called 'Poque,' while the Germans went crazy about a similar form of entertainment dubbed 'Pochen.' Both games supposedly developed from the 16th century Spanish game called 'Primero.' Being modern poker's first confirmed version, Primero was based on today's bluffing strategies. Some gaming industry experts regard Primero as ''poker's mother.'

Later on, French colonials brought the game from Europe to Canada. From the beginning of the 18th century, loosely coinciding with the establishment of News Orleans, the game spread from Louisiana up the Mississippi river and afterwards reached more remote parts of the country as well. One of the earliest references to the game played at that period of time mentions a type of a cheating game played on Mississippi riverboats. Gamers allegedly preferred this new game over the notorious game of 3-card monte widely played those days.

Poker become so popular that during the Wild West period of the U.S. history that saloons with poker tables could be found just about anywhere across the country. It gained even further popularity during the Civil War. No matter how irreconcilable was the conflict between the two armies, both Southern and Northern soldiers played poker. Any influence that the European style of poker may have still had on the American version ended with the introduction of the Joker as a wild card in the 1870's. Additional American developments included lawball, split-pot poker, and community card games.

In just over two hundred years, poker has lost the dirty ambiance associated with it. Today's poker is considered more of a sport than a game based mainly on dishonesty, deception and mafia money loaning. Modern poker tournaments became widely popular across American gaming venues after the first World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1970. The list of prominent world championship winners from these early tournaments includes poker powerhouses, such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim. It was during that decade that Brunson released the first ever thought-provoking poker strategy book, the 'Super System.'

With the invention of the Internet, the poker craze conquered the world completely. Online poker is accessible to any individual with a PC. In addition, prestigious poker tournaments like the WSOP and WPT are now broadcast for enormous audiences watching cable and satellite television. Due to the increasing media coverage of poker events, expert poker players are now treated more and more like Hollywood movie stars, with poker enthusiasts from all over the globe buying entry into costly tournaments for the chance to compete with them.