History of Poker

The current poker game has evolved in more than ten centuries ago from various other card games, having basic rules of rank cards and/or domino combinations and betting. As it has evolved from some other card games no specific name about who started playing the game is found. 

History of Poker (Image Reference)

No specific estimate was found when poker has been started as a game but lots of signs and evidence have been found about a popular game just like poker was played in china sometime before 969 A.D. The Chinese emperor Mu-tsung used to play the card game named “domino cards” with his wife in the eve of New Year.

In the 12^th and 13^th centuries, Egyptians used to play cards in different names and forms. In the 16^th century Persia “Treasure cards” or “Ganjifa” were widely used for different types of betting card games. In Ganjifa there used to be about 96 different cards on the table. The Persians used to play a card game named “As Nas” which had about 25 cards with existence of betting and hierarchal value of cards which were distributed among players.   

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries German card game called “Pochen” and at the same time French game called “poque” both the predecessors of poker were developed from Spanish game named “Primero”  which involved playing three cards dealt to every player. Primero is known as mother of modern poker as it was the first deep-rooted edition of current poker game played.

French imported their national card game “poque” to Canada and all their colonies and spread that from the state of Louisiana to the Mississippi and by that throughout the entire country.

Since its beginning from Mississippi, poker did not have to look back in the past two and half centuries and it grew rapidly to country to country and people play different forms of poker games around the globe. I think you will find a poker table in every night clubs and casinos with an increasing excitement and increased number of female spectators. These days 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud and Texas Hold’em are most the popular forms of poker.