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.
