Poker History
The exact origin of poker eludes even the best historians till nowadays, but the consensus among scholars that have studied poker history agree that poker is a combination of a numerous card games that combined and influenced one another along the centuries.
Poker belongs to a class of card games referred to as "Vying Games", in which players compete to win a central pot by bluffing, achieving good combinations of cards, which may or may not be revealed to opponents during the game and along the poker history and other card games many games fit the above description, some resemble poker in one aspect while others don't, these are used to determine the proximity of poker to other card games.
But still, the poker history is in the shades. There are scholars that believe that the name originated in the French Poque, which in itself originated from the German Pochen that stands for "to knock". But if the game evolved from Poque or some other card games – no one can be sure.
A widespread conviction states that the Chinese Emperor called Mu-Tsung created a game parallel to poker in 970 AD, which is said to be played with domino tiles. A different hypothesis tells of another game played by the Egyptians in the 12th and 13th centuries, alike to the hand ranking systems used in poker.
Also, the game bears a resemblance to the Persian game called As Nas. This game was played with 25 cards and five different suits and had hand ranking very similar to the modern poker we play today. Its roots are attributed to the Renaissance card game named Primero along with the French Brelan.
There is a theory that claims that As Nas migrated with Persian sailors to New Orleans where French settlers learned and played the game. As you can clearly see, the poker history leaves much for historians to study further.
The History of Poker - Early References in Literature
In 1829 Joseph Crowell, an English actor, has told about a game played with a deck of 20 cards by four players that bet on valued-combinations of cards in his book "Thirty Years Passed Among Players in England and America".
In "An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling" (1843), a book by H. Green, he reports about the spread of this game along the Mississippi river, where in riverboats it was used as a common pastime activity.
Another recording of the game can be found in Sol Smith's book called "Theatrical Management in the West and South for Thirty Years".
The Spread of Poker in America
Soon the English 52-cards deck was put to use, mainly to allow more players to play the game simultaneously and in the American Civil War more elements were also put to use such as the Flush and Straight. Draw Poker (which is referred in the "Bohn's New Handbook of Games" in the 1850) and Stud Poker were introduced and poker got a serious push with these.
The American styled poker games gained more and more power and in 1875 the Wild Card was introduced followed by Lowball and Split Pot Poker around the first decade of the 19th century.
The poker history continues to blossom along the 19th century as well when community-cards poker games were played around the 20's and 30's. Along with the spread of poker in America U.S soldiers have brought the game to distant locations in Asia and the Pacific as well to other parts in the world.
The poker history continues in 1910 when the state of Nevada made it a crime to operate any gambling game and so all games which were based on chance turned illegal over a night But the Attorney General of California stated that Draw Poker was not a game of chance but in fact it is a game where skill and mind have a crucial part in the game. Consequently the antigambling-regulations could be imposed upon Draw poker. Even though Stud poker was considered by him as a game of luck poker "survived" the antigambling period of the U.S with the help of Draw poker.
When Poker First Arrived to Britain
The introduction of poker to the English society is contributed to the General Schenck, the American emissary to Britain. He had taught his British hosts the "peculiar American games" and soon it had a grasp among the high society of London, from there is moved year after year to the lower classes of London. Soon afterwards it spread to other parts of Britain. Indeed he is a vital part of poker history.
Poker History - The 20th Century
The game continued to grow in popularity during the 20th century, especially in America were the first poker tournaments were formed. The first prestige tournament played in the U.S was the World Series of Poker, which at first didn't make much commotion, but along the 80's this tournaments gained more and more fame and poker players across the U.S swarmed to battle for the first place.
Along with the unbelievable increase in poker's popularity the poker industry began - books, articles, newsletters and newspapers spread like mushrooms after the rain. Every respectable poker player wrote his own essays about poker and the business of poker gained speed.
In the 90's poker gained another boost, this time from the technology. From the early days of the Internet, poker players found joy in the vast resources offered by the Web, but only in the end of the 20th century did online poker rooms emerged and offered players the option to gamble online for real money.
World's Best Online Casinos is one of many Internet sites that offer poker players the possibility to play for real money, while making sure its players get the highest promotional offers and bonuses.
Susan McClary - Senior Editor.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006