subject: A Short History of Poker [print this page] Poker is a group of card games that share betting rules and often similar hand ranking. Each form different in how the cards are dealt, how hands are formed, whether the low or high hand wins, limits of bets, and number of rounds of betting.
The history of poker is the subject of debate. Around 969 AD, the Chinese emperor Mu-Tsung is reported to have played 'domino cards' with his wife. Egyptians in the 12th and 13th centuries had a version of playing cards. The Persians in the 16th century had a 96-card game "Ganjifa" and a 25-card version "As Nas". An early known card game incorporating betting, hand rankings and bluffing was a German game entitled 'Pochspiel' popular in the 15th century. The French played a game called 'Poque'. Both games derived from the German 'pochen' ('to brag as a bluff', 'to knock'). Other early versions include the Renaissance game of 'Primero', the French game 'Brelan' and the English game 'Brag'.
Irrespective of the early origins of poker, the modern day game differs significantly with focus upon unique features such as betting that do not appear in any older version. The modern origin of Poker is believe to have occurred in the mid 1700s spreading through the paddle steamers of the Mississippi River by 1800. Most likely introduced by French colonials arriving in Canada.
The early versions of poker involved a 20-card game with only the cards (AKQJT). The straight, flush and royal flush were not considered hands and bets were made on hand rankings of one pair, two pair, triplets, full and four of a kind. The nut hand at the time was either four aces or four kings with an ace. At the start of the 1800s, the modern 52-card version was introduced to accommodate more players. Later on, the concept of a 'draw' was introduced to allow initially poor hands to dramatically improve. This also allowed an extra round of betting and excitement to be introduced into the game. From this point, all modern variations of the game begin to evolve.
The modern day poker boom can be attributed to four events. The first is the 1998 film 'Rounders' starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich in which a law student is tangled up in the world of poker and eventually quits his job and heads to Las Vegas to follow his dream. The second is the improvements in modernising televised poker tournaments including the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. The third occurred when an unknown amateur Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003. The fourth and final important advancement is the technology to allow internet poker into mainstream society. Since those events, poker has exploded and has never looked back.
