Poker History
The first origins of Poker are a matter of
broad debate. In a general sense, as it
relates to
card playing and not betting, Poker could have began from at least 6
different games or a combination of them, dating back as far as the
Renaissance.
Some of these early games include the Persian
As Nas, the French Poque, which
itself likely descended
from a German game called Pochen, which means to brag
or
to bluff. Even earlier than those were the Renaissance games
of Primero, the
French game Brelan, and the English game
Brag, which most likely descended from
Brelan.
Historians argue however that what is unique
about today's poker is the betting
aspect of the game.
In this sense the development of poker is thought to have
developed much more recently, starting in the early 1700's it spread
to the
Mississippi River by 1800. At this time the
use of the 52 card English deck was
already popular, along
with a 20 card deck which was used for 2 players. From
the Mississippi the game is thought to have spread along the river
via riverboats to
the West during the time of the
gold-rush. During the Civil War many variants were
added which included 5 card stud and the straight. Wild Cards
and split pots were
added after this, between 1875 and
1900. Finally around 1930 community card
poker games
such as Texas Hold Em first developed.
The next big
development in poker occurred in 1970 with tremendous rise in
popularity
in casinos across the US, and the first WSOP.
During the 1970's serious strategy
books were written on
the game, including Brunson's Super/System, Caro's Book
of
Poker Tells, and later Sklansky's The Theory of Poker.
In the late 80's Hold Em took another step forward as community card
games were
introduced to California casinos, and spread
throughout the United States very quickly.
During the
1990's Texas Hold Em was already a firmly established game in
American
Casinos and culture, but the release of the 1998
film Rounders served to increase
that popularity hugely,
and turned it into the near craze it is today. After the turn
of
the century online games served to support the new
found popularity, and television
shows such as Poker After
Dark, High Stakes Poker, and Late Night Poker also greatly
contributed to its popularity as it was now a spectator sport.
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