Read here a condensed but comprehensive description detailing the origins of poker and how it became popular and evolved into online poker.

Though many argue over the specific origin of poker, most agree that poker is an old game that has taken many forms throughout history until it evolved into the poker we know. Poker is mentioned as early as 1834 when Jonathan H. Green writes about rules to "cheating game," which was then being played on Mississippi riverboats. But his poker was very different than the poker you are today familiar with. Then it was played with 20 cards, using only the aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens. Two to four people could play, and each was dealt five cards.

Poker rapidly grew in popularity till it became the number one cheating game on the Mississippi boats, surpassing even the Three-Card Monte. Not only do scholars argue about the origins of poker but they are also undecided about where the word came from. Most seem to claim that poque, an eighteenth-century French game, is the father of the word poker. But others argue that pochspiel, a German game, is the father. Here players have to indicate whether they wanted to pass or open by rapping on the table and saying, "Ich Poche!" And there are even those who say that it comes from the Hindu word, pukka. Others even go as far as to claim that poker came from a version of an underworld slang word, "poke." This was a term used by pickpockets. It was said that they used 'poker' to baffle others.

Nowadays poker is very ardently regulated by gambling laws. Casinos and cardrooms have risen nearly everywhere and with the rise of the online casinos too take part in this poker boom. Heard or watched the World Series of Poker? Yes - poker has even evolved into a sporting event, with competitions and tournaments all around the world.