Nobody knows exactly how the game of poker originated, or how the word poker even came to be associated with the game. Even the game’s most respected historians think the game probably evolved from several different games. The word poker probably comes from an eighteenth century French game, Poque. The Germans may also be involved with their game Pochspiel. There are still others who think it may have came from the Hindu word, pukka. Of course there is also the slang word, “poke,” which is means wallet by pickpockets and “hocus-pocus,” from magicians talking about tricks in which something disappears. What can be agreed upon is that the premise of the game is an old one, with the earliest reference to 1550 and a game called Primero.
This Italian game involved betting with hand values like three-of-a-kind, pairs, and flushes. During the 1700’s the betting and bluffing aspects of the game made their way through Europe with Brag in England, Pochen in Germany, and Poque in France. The game’s American origins can be traced back to 1834, when writer Jonathan H. Green detailed the rules of a cheating game that was being played on the Mississippi riverboats. Green named this game Poker, but this game had 20 cards with only aces, kings, queens, jacks, and tens with four people playing, and each being dealt five cards. At this time the game was the most popular game being played on Mississippi riverboats, and that popularity then spread from New Orleans up the river, and then from the river to the nearby towns. From there the towns people spread the game via covered wagon and the railroad all across the country. When the now-standard 52-card deck ultimately replaced the 20-card deck, the flush was re-introduced, but it was during the Civil War, modifications such as open cards (stud poker), the straight and the draw were established. source: betfirms.comLast 5 posts in poker
