|
Poker History
There seems to be differences of opinion on the origin of Poker.
There are as many possible birthplaces as there are variations of the game. The most popular belief is that it was invented by the Chinese around 900 A.D., possibly derived from the Chinese dominoes. On New Year's Eve, 969, the Emperor Mu-tsung is reported to have played "domino cards" with his wife.
Another theory is that poker originates from the Persian game "as nas". This is a 5-player game, which requires a special deck of 25 cards with 5 suits.
Meanwhile, others believe that modern cards originated from an Indian card game called Ganjifa.
In any case, the idea of card-playing started in the East and made its way West into Europe, reportedly through the Mameluke Empire which ruled in the Middle East during the Middle Ages.
The early European card makers took the idea of royalty and rank and differentiated the cards using people. The first card makers were Italian and Spanish and used men only on their court cards, but then French card makers substituted a queen for one of the male court cards.
Another theory calls on the French "poque". The French who settled New Orleans played Poque, a card game involving bluffing and betting. This was stated to be the first use of a deck consisting of spades, diamonds, clubs, and hearts.
Yet another possible explanation for the word poker, is that it came from a version of an underworld slang word, "poke", a term used by pickpockets. Cardsharps who used the 20-card cheating game to relieve a sucker from his poke may have used that word among themselves, adding an r to make it "poker". The thought was that if the sharps used the word "poker" in front of their victims, those wise to the underworld slang would not surmise the change.
There are those who also believe that "poke" probably came from "hocus-pocus", a term widely used by magicians. The game of Poker later evolved to include 32 cards, and eventually the modern day deck of 52, not counting the two Jokers.
One of the earliest written references to Poker was made in 1834 by Jonathan H. Green. In his writing, Green mentions rules to what he called the "cheating game", which was then being played on Mississippi riverboats. He soon realized that he was the first such reference to the game, and since it was not mentioned in the current American Hoyle, he chose to call the game "poker".
The history of poker in the United States from then on has a bit more consistency. After travelling by steamboat from New Orleans to the North up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, poker then spread via wagon and train.During the Wild West period of United States history, a saloon with a Poker table could be found in just about every town from coast to coast. Modifications such as stud poker, the draw, and the straight became popular during the Civil War. The European influence of poker ended when the joker was introduced as a wild card in 1875.
In 1910, Nevada made it a felony to run a betting game. However, the Attorney General of California declared that draw poker was based upon skill and therefore the antigambling laws could not stop it. With this decision, draw poker games developed and grew.This caused Nevada to reverse itself in 1931 and legalize casino gambling.
In the 1990s, Poker became popular on the Internet. Software advances made it possible for live poker games where players from around the world could pull up a chair to an online poker table and bet against players in Europe, Australia, Asia, the United States or any point on the globe where there was a computer hooked up to the World Wide Web.
Poker today is one of the fastest growing, but hardly recognized sporting events. The pinnacle of the poker world, The World Series of Poker, attracts players from all over the world every year to compete for money and titles as the world's top Poker players.
Poker will always be around and will continue to grow and flourish like so many other past times. There will always be a game to play, money to be won, and crowns to be worn.
|
