The history of poker

[ashokeban]

I remember watching the my first blackjack game on ESPN a few years back when in 2005 Joe Jachem won the prestigious 2005 world series of poker championship and pocketed home over 7 million dollars. It was one of the most dramatic poker tournaments I have ever witnissed and I quickly became hooked on poker. Poker is the toughest game to play not only because of all the possibilities of hands that are out there but also because you almost need to be a master psychologist to become a poker champion because you really need to understand when your opponent is bluffing you out of a hand or not. Anyways, my poker obsession lead me to start reading up on the history of poker and this is what I have come up with from my research.
The first card games that incorporated bluffing, betting and hand ranking was a game that first developed in the early 16th century in what is modern day Germany called Pochspiel. Others claim that poker bares a striking resemblance to the Persian game called As Nas, but researchers and historians say that there is very little evidence of As Nas being played before the late 19th century.
Other historians have it pegged down as starting the early 1700's and spreading throughout the mississippi river region by the beginning of the 19th century. It was played in many different forms and varitaions with styles such as 20 card poker and poker witha full deck of 52 cards. It really started to spread throughout that region during the gold rush era and this was when the flush was first introduced into the game. Before that time no one had ever even heard of the flush hand. the many other variations of poker were later intruduced into the game during the civil war that we also recognize today. Since then it has only grown stronger in its popularity and during the late part of the 20th century it really skyrocketed with the introduction of the World Series of Poker which brought poker playeers from all over the world together to win a jackpot in the millions of dollars.

[Terrier12]

Someone told me it was french?

[megan isla]

Originally Posted by Terrier12

Someone told me it was french?

A French game named “Poque” and a German game named “Pochen” became very popular in the 17 & 18th centuries, both developed from the 16th century Spanish game called “Primero” which involved three cards being dealt to each player. Bluffing, or betting high stakes whilst holding poor cards to deceive opponents, was an integral part of the game. Primero dates back to 1526 and is often referred to as “poker’s mother” as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker.

[rogue63]

dang i thought poker was invented in newfoundland

[jolub]

I assumed it came from the American West.

[jasjasika]

The history of Poker is thought to have evolved over more than ten centuries from various games, all involving the basic principals of ranked card or domino combinations and the use of ‘bluffing’ to deceive opponents,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.

[skanet]

You should take a look at:
Cezanne's Card Players - The Courtauld Gallery
if you are interested in history of poker.

[Damian]

During the history of poker many variations of poker were born as 5 Card Draw that was very popular in the early poker history. Later it was replaced by more and more popular Stud and Omaha. And finally in 70ties of 20th. century came to prominence still the most popular variation “Texas Holdem Poker”. This first huge increase in poker was thanks to first World Series of Poker and other live televised poker events that were watched by thousands of spectators and poker fans