The History Of Poker

Here I will briefly discuss the origins and history of the world’s most popular card game, Poker. We’ll take a look at who invented it, where it was played, and how it became so popular.
Card games have been played very early on going back centuries. Thus, in China in the 13th Century they were already playing cards. In the 12th and 13th Century the Egyptians were known to have created playing cards. The first known card game ‘Ganjifa’ originating from Egypt in the 16th Century, consisted of 96 beautifully detailed cards made of wood or ivory.
Although the origin of this game is unclear, one widely assumes that it has evolved from the Persian marked card game As Nas, which has affinity with today’s poker. For the first time there were differences in the card values and combinations. This game from Persia originated in the 16th Century and consisted of 25 cards of 5 colors, which is somewhat similar to today’s 5 Card Stud Poker. There have also been similar rankings and values.
In the 14th Century, these card games came to Europe and were further developed. In Spain, they developed the card game Primero, which can be regarded as a direct ancestor of today’s poker. In Germany it was a poker variant, which goes by the name Poch, France Poque. Poch, Poque and English to poke derived from the German word, rap, which is further developed in the course of time in the poker world.
French settlers that moved to America in the 19th Century invented the present form of poker. It was then played with four players, with a deck of 20 cards. In the following decades, the game spread around the country. In the time of the Civil War 1861-1865 it was played with a traditional deck of 52 cards. During this time a combination of cards were added to make the straight and flush poker hand rankings, and it developed into other forms of poker like Five Card Stud and Five Card Draw.
During the Early 20th Century, a new form of poker contact lens was invented going by the name Wild Widow. This form of poker is the first form of today’s Texas Hold’em. For the first time community cards had been used, but back then it was still a single community card. Only in subsequent years saw the development of today’s Texas Hold’em.
Until the early 70s, poker was a game of chance. Regular WSOP tournaments were held, and the image of this game was transformed from simply being “a good amusement/entertainment” to a very strategic game, involving a great deal of skill, and the first poker pros were born who were playing this game for a living. The technical capabilities of the Internet revolutionized the game of poker and online poker experienced the biggest boom in its history after Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event. The number of poker players, both in online and offline games, has never been so high, and the numbers of players online are still understood steeply rising.