A short history of poker.
Introduction.
Since the 1990s people have been betting and gambling in online poker games around the world; and the game of poker itself is probably the card game that has the most money ‘bet’ on it each year, whether through online poker games or traditional ‘in-house’ ones. Exactly what the origins of poker were is actually lost in time; several theories surround the history and development of poker; some of which are more plausible than others. One thing that is not disputed is that the name for the card game of ‘poker’ originated in the USA in the early 19th century.
The arrival of ‘playing cards’ in western Europe.
The history of the game of poker really begins with the history of card games. The first known hint that playing cards were being made comes from China in 960, when the Emperor Mu Tsung is said to have spoken about "domino cards", rather than using the usual tiles, for the game of dominoes which was very popular in China. However, the first proof of the existence of playing cards is actually in China in the 13th century. Although nothing is known of he games that were played, the playing cards of that time had a similar structure to the present day ‘deck of cards’ familiar to us all. Travelling westwards via India, Persia and Egypt - playing cards arrived in Western Europe, through the east-west gateway of Venice, in the mid 14th century. During this initial phase various designs and suits of playing cards, not to mention games, developed - none of which had any influence on the game of poker.
The development of poker from the 15th to 19th centuries.
By the 15th century card games had developed at a tremendous pace. Suddenly there were card games that required players to try and guess which cards another player had, card games in which one player would deliberately try and ‘bluff’ his/her opponent(s) etc. All of these games have components in them that would eventually be incorporated into poker. These historic ancestors of poker can be split into: 3 card, 4 card and 5 card games - all of which were known and played across Europe. However, three card games in particular stand-out as likely fore-runners of poker: The 18th century English game of Brag, a French game from the same period called Bouillotte and the earlier German game, interestingly called, Pochen. It is known that elements of the German game of Pochen were picked up and used by the French in a game that they called ‘Poque’. Given the dates here and the fact that France was so involved in the settlement and evolution of North America and Canada; it doesn’t take a great leap of the imagination to see how a card game, popular with French militia and settlers, could evolve into the American game of ‘Poker’.
Poker - an American card game.
The original American game of poker was not played in the formats that are so familiar to online poker gamblers today. Played with only 20 cards, just four players would bet who had the most valuable hand. Interestingly this game was first played in New Orleans, an area with large settlements of French speakers. Following from that; it is not unreasonable to accept that the word ‘Poker’, for the card game, is actually an English corruption from the French word ‘Poque’. To say Poker proved to be highly popular and spread rapidly is an understatement. New Orleans, being a sea port, had a constant flow of sailors from around the world taking the game out internationally. The rise in the steam-boat trade up and down the Mississippi river provided a captive audience of keen gamblers to the new card game not to mention gold prospectors returning from the gold-rush out west. Within a couple of decades the game of poker had evolved into the 52 card game that is now played all over the world. Although the ease with which anyone could play online poker was almost 150 years away, the explosion in different rules and styles of poker was about to begin.