The History of Poker: How the Great Game Started

Earliest Origins of Poker

Poker history facts vary from one source to another. One of the running theories is that it originates from a Persian game by the name of as-nas. However, some historians have recently challenged this stand, pointing in other directions to the origins of modern poker. Some of the games experts have listed as alternative ancestors include Poque (France), Brag (Britain), Poca (Ireland), Primero (Spain or Italy), and Belan (latter-day France).

Each poker history theory answers the questions “Where was poker invented?” differently, and proponents of each theory can provide very solid arguments for their point of view. For instance, the game of Brag may have a strong case as it comes from an English-speaking country.

In Brag’s simplest form, betting in the course of the game would continue until only two players were left, and it could go on for an indefinite number of rounds. This game was typically played with a 32-card deck, with each player receiving three cards. The best hand would be three of a kind. In terms of direct lineage, this could be the earliest version of poker.

As-nas was slightly different. There were only 20 cards in a deck arranged in five ranks, from highest to the lowest: as (ace), shah (king), bibi (queen), serbaz (soldier), and couli (dancer). Each player was dealt five cards, so the entire deck would be dealt out. The high hands were the same as poker hands today – although without straights and flushes – and the best hand would win.

There was betting involved, but without any draws and no leftover cards to be dealt; it was all about the personal choice whether to bluff or bet conventionally. Interestingly, the game involved a form of straddling, which meant that players could bet before seeing their cards. They only had to declare: “Not seeing, I have seen.”

In one variation of this game, there were five suits and 25 cards in an as-nas deck. Modern-day as-nas players replicate this by using five identical card decks and five kings of diamonds, five aces of hearts, five jacks of clubs, five queens of spades, and five jokers.

Poker Origins in the US

The predominant theory is that poker in America was created in the 19th century. It was a derivative form of the French parlor game Poque that was brought to American soil, specifically to New Orleans by French traders and sailors.

The British game of Brag, derived from a German bluffing game, was introduced by the merchants and first colonists. Brag had a strong influence on the earliest forms of poker in America. It was typically played with a 20-card deck.

Speaking of the history of poker in the US, the game started in the parlors and saloons of New Orleans and spread throughout Louisiana before moving to the rest of the USA. Being located on the banks of the Mississippi River about 100 miles from its mouth, New Orleans was the major port on the biggest waterway in the continent. The Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean were at its doorstep, making it the perfect melting pot for a game like poker to thrive.

As merchants and traders journeyed along this massive river, and in the course of their business, they introduced the game of poker to the locals. By the mid-19th century, the rise of the steamboat gambler was in full swing.

At that time, the game grew from using a 20-card to a 52-card deck, and drawing became an integral part of five-card poker. There was also another round of betting introduced to make the stakes more appealing. Around this time, the flush – consisting of five cards of the same suit – was introduced, becoming one of poker’s most valuable hands. The straight – consisting of five cards in numerical order – was added in the 1860s.

From 1861-65, during the American Civil War, poker was played on all sides. It was one way both the rebels and the federal soldiers relaxed during their downtime. When the war ended, the surviving soldiers brought the game home with them. This is thought to be how the game of poker started spreading throughout the North American continent all the way to the Midwest and the Northeast.

Poker also became an integral part of the “wild wild West” adventure in the late 19th century, as you’d know from watching practically any cowboy movie. A French game called Faro – from which baccarat is derived – was already a popular game in many of the saloons and gambling houses scattered across the west of America. But as poker started gaining popularity, more and more criminals, hustlers, cheats, and bad-rep characters joined in.

Due to widespread lawlessness, it was hard to find a fair poker game. To keep the games at least semi-honest, all players were armed and rarely thought twice before pulling out their weapons if foul play was suspected. It’s no surprise, then, that poker was commonly associated with thuggery and violence. This unfortunate reputation lasted for an entire century before poker was finally legitimized as an honest card game.

The five-card stud variation of poker gained popularity in the West around the time of the California Gold Rush in 1849. It was soon expanded to a seven-card game, and other variants followed, among them Kansas City lowball. Then, in the mid-20th century, Texas hold’em arrived. This later evolved into no-limit Texas hold’em at major events and competitions.

Modern Poker

The modern game hasn’t changed much over the past 100 years, with rules and decks becoming standardized. Poker’s popularity has also changed over the years, but all players ultimately have the same goal: to get the best possible five-card hand or, if not, to bluff their way to a win.

In the beginning, everyone played five-card draw, but in time the game shifted from draw to stud, and that in turn expanded from five to seven cards. Split-pot and lowball games were also introduced, as was Texas hold’em, which radically transformed the game by enabling up to 10 people to play in a single hand with five community and two hole cards.

But the story doesn’t end there. In fact, Texas hold’em continued to evolve and progressed into “pineapple” with three hole cards and Omaha with four hole cards. Omaha branched further into games like Big-O with five hole cards and Courchevel, the ultimate Omaha game. This offers a unique twist on how to play poker; the first community card is exposed pre-flop and before the first betting round starts.

In the last couple of years, poker circles have expanded significantly, to the point that there’s now a game called “badugi” with origins in South Korea. It’s a draw game that’s very similar to triple-draw. It’s hand values are the same as lowball and open-face Chinese poker, commonly known as OFC, a game that originated in Finland in the mid-2000s.

OFC spread throughout Russia soon afterward and arrived in the US in 2012. In this game of poker, two to four people can play, and each player uses 13 poker cards, starting with three cards in the front hand, five in the middle hand, and five in the back hand.

Poker experienced an unprecedented boom on the international scene thanks to technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century. This increased exponentially with the introduction of online poker sites at the turn of the century. For the first time in history, players were able to join in a virtual gambling game without leaving the comfort of their own homes.

There’s no need for physical objects such as cards, chips, and tables to play the game online. Everything is digitized. Now, thanks to smartphones and tablets, players can take part in a game from anywhere with internet access.

World Series of Poker history is widely considered to be another major influence in the popularization of poker. It is the biggest and most acclaimed annual competitive poker tournament, attracting professional players from around the globe. The first man ever to win the title of Poker World Champion was Johnny Moss, back in 1970 at Binion’s Horseshoe.

In 2003, the rights to become the exclusive host of the tournament were purchased by Harrah’s Casino. As of 2020, the main sponsor is Caesars Entertainment, an American hotel and casino company based in Reno, Nevada, that operates more than 50 properties. This tournament still remains the leading annual competition in poker.

The World Series of Poker soon spread beyond the city limits of Las Vegas to various venues all over America. By the end of 2007, the first-ever European tournament was held. It became possible after Harrah’s Casino formed an alliance with English-based online gambling company Betfair. With prize money of over $100 million and 55 gold bracelet events, the World Series Poker tournament has exploded in magnitude and is still adding to poker history.

History of Online Poker

Since 1970, the popularity of poker has soared and remained in the collective consciousness, mostly thanks to the WSOP coverage on CBS and ESPN during the years of Stu Ungar. In 1995, the internet took over, but it wasn’t until about three years later, in 1998, that there was a site that offered real money poker games: planetpoker.com. This site had an amazing start and took the business seriously, even hiring Mike Caro as its spokesman. However, a few years later other poker sites had overtaken Planet Poker, which ceased to be a gambling hub and instead became a leading resource on poker rules.

Soon after, partypoker.com established itself as the leading online poker site, competing against sites such as Full Tilt, PokerStars, and others. PokerStars is currently the most frequented poker site despite the fact that it no longer accepts US customers. In fact, most online poker sites don’t accept American players, largely because of the event of “Black Friday” on April 15, 2011, when PokerStars and other big websites were forced out of the US market by a lawsuit. Today, there are only a few online poker sites that will still accept Americans, such as America’s Cardroom and Ignition Poker.