The History of Poker

Poker has some different versions. This is perhaps because there is not clear lineage to it from an earlier game. Probably the game developed as a hybrid of several games. It is however thought to be a very old game.

The first written reference to poker was in 1834 by Jonathon Green who wrote about the cheating game popular played on Mississippi riverboats. After being unable to find any mention of the card game in the American Hoyle he realised that the game had never previously had its rules written down and chose to call the game Poker.
The version of Poker Green wrote about only used the picture cards and the Tens with five of these cards being dealt to each player who numbered between two and four. Poker quickly became the most popular card game of the time and soon surpassed Three Card Monte. Many players had been ripped off by Card Hustlers with Three Card Monte and it is thought that Poker became popular because it was considered less prone to ''unfair'' cheating.

The name Poker is thought to have been derived from Poque, a game played during the 1700's in France or the German Pochspiel. There is bluffing in Pocspiel and players can either pass or open by knocking on the table and saying Ich Poche. Other historians believe the word poker comes from the Hindu word Pukka.

A less cosmopolitan explanation is that poker is derived from ''poke'' which was a word used by pickpockets for their thieving and that Cardsharps would liken their relieving their victims of their poke to picking the pocket of the unfortunate mark, adding an r at the end so that they could use the word for their crime in front of their victim as a further humiliation.

It has also been suggested that the origins lie in the magical expression hocus pocus. Poker evolved into a game of thirty-two and then fifty-two cards.

Poker as a game has developed and evolved as a result of millions of hands played in tens of thousands of clubs, casinos and cardrooms to the forms of today. In so doing it has acquired its own folklore, myths and legends associated with the people who played it and the places they played. In the Pioneer days of the American Wild West every Saloon had its own Poker Table and regular players.
Those days of unregulated gambling are over but in their place is an organised infrastructure of Tournaments and government licensed Casino and Cardrooms where Poker is played fairly.

Poker is now the most popular card game in the world and the prize money of its competitions compares favourably to any competition or sport in the world. Poker is still growing in popularity world-wide and hasn't received the full credit it deserves for its size and importance in the competitive entertainment arena. The WPT and WSOP attract thousands of players from across the worlds and millions strong TV audiences.