The History of Casino Games - Online Poker

The History of Poker

When one studies the history of gambling, it is always amazing to note how far back gambling goes and for how many centuries people have been willing and eager to risk a sum of money in order to win a larger one. Poker history, too, is long and involved and goes back many years.

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The Ancient Roots of Poker

Games like Keno and Sic Bo have their roots firmly in ancient China and, surprisingly, so does the game of poker. It is believed that poker has evolved over the course of a thousand years, at least, starting with games that used the same basic principle of card ranking. Since its birth, poker has reproduced, changed forms, and has spread across the planet like a mega-plague. It has been called the most popular card game in the world and deservingly so.

A popular belief is that poker got its start in China around 900 A.D. Even though cards, as we know them, had not emerged yet, the Chinese had dominoes, which are believed to be the first form of gambling and the predecessor to the modern deck of cards. It is said that Emperor Mu Tsung introduced the game of "domino cards" to his wife in 969 A.D, more than 1,000 years ago.

Egypt is also cited as a possible source of poker. Remnants of what is believed to be playing cards were found and dated back as far as the 12th or 13th century. India is also mentioned as the country of origin and some historians say that modern-day card games, including poker, are derived from an ancient Indian game called Ganjifa, which in turn may have led to a Persian game called "As Nas." The game of As Nas dates back to the 17^th century and resembles poker in more ways than any of the games previously mentioned.

Early European Versions of Poker

Europeans also played what is thought to be an early version of poker. A French game named “Poque” and a German game named “Pochen” became very popular in the 17^th and 18th centuries, and it is believed that they were both developed from an earlier Spanish game called “Primero,” which involved three cards being dealt to each player. Bluffing was an important part of that game, tying it securely to poker. Primero dates back to 1526 and is often referred to as “poker's mother” as it is the first confirmed game directly related to today's poker.

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Poker Comes to America

French colonials imported the game to the New World when they arrived in Canada. Poque was the national card game of France at the time and from the beginning of the 18th century, when a group of French-Canadian settlers founded New Orleans, it spread from Louisiana up the Mississippi River and from there throughout the whole country. In 1834, a gambler by the name of Jonathan H. Green referred to poque as “the cheating game” that was widely played on riverboats of that era. At the time, 3-card Monte was the most popular gambling game, but the game Green called “the cheating game” was ironically considered more honest and more of a challenge and it surpassed any existing game in popularity. Green himself is credited with Americanizing the name of the game and christening it as poker. In the 1800s no saloon could be found without a poker table. The United States officially claimed the game as its own in 1875 when it introduced the joker as a wild card and the game of poker has never been the same since.

Poker is arguably the most malleable card game in history and variations (and variations of variations) abound. For a long time — almost 100 years — 5-card draw was the most popular poker game. Seven-card stud poker took the baton from its 5-card brother and ran with it for about 40 years in the mid-20^th century. In the 1970s, when it was featured in the World Series of Poker, the poker variant of Texas Hold 'Em took over as the most popular form of poker and it has never looked back — it is still the reigning King of Poker. It is undoubtedly the most frequently played poker game in the world.

Online Poker is Born

The next stage in poker history came in the 1990s with the development of the online casino. Today, you can play poker online against other real live poker players. There are other online poker variations, such as Poker Pursuit and Three-Card Poker and Bonus Pai Gow Poker, that are solitary games: just you against the computer. There are also progressive poker games, like Poker Ride and Progressive Cyberstud Poker, that offer huge jackpots that often reach $100,000 or more.

Online poker has truly revolutionized poker history. It has brought the game of poker into everyone's home, with no need to travel to the game, and it provides so many different poker variations that, with just the click of a mouse, you can easily find the best poker game for you.

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