Actual appearance of card playing occurred around 1377, which was recorded first by John of Rheinfelden, a Swiss Monk. Game was played with 52 card decks ranging from 1-10 in value. On the other hand, Chinese documented in actual playing of card around 950, which means they were first to participate in card games but did not include 52 cards like modern deck does. Moreover, they played more like dominoes than poker. This means the origin of 52 card deck games was observed in 1377, which was mentioned in the story written by John from Rheinfelden.
In early years of 1500, La Prime or Primero was played in Western Europe. It is regarded to be the bedrock of poker game, you play today. In this game, each player had three cards, where each one tried to make a two of a kind, a pair or a flush. Game become popular in England because of the concept of bluffing and ensuring that opponents don’t know the cards you hold. The game was modified and it got the name ‘Brag’ [show-off] and players were allowed to wager. Germans created their personal version swiftly followed by the French. French renamed it ‘Poque’ and took it to America in the year 1803 and got its name ‘Poker’.
How poker came online?
In 2009, situs poker was launched by an anonymous player called Isildur1. Some highest stakes were played online against the world’s biggest players. Isildur1 was actually a 20-year Swedish geek, who won millions playing from his bedroom. Soon he played against another popular poker player, Brian Hastings. In the challenge, Isildurf1 lost all his winnings.
Quick facts about poker history
- Some Historians reveal that the origin of poker is traced to the Chinese Emperor of 10th century, who played domino card game.
- Few people claim poker to be an heir of Persian card game called ‘As Nas’ dating back to 16th
- Closest ancestor of poker is European’s ‘Poque’ and in 17th century its popularity spread in France.
- Germans ‘Pochen’ and Poque are based on 16th century Spanish game called ‘Primero’ [bluff game of 3-cards, where betting was high on poor cards].
- Poque was bought to North America by French colonists in 1803.
- By 1834, modern game of ‘Poker’ with 52-card deck was introduced by English-speaking settlers.
- From here it spread – soldiers in the South and North as well as the Wild West frontier settlements played poker in 1870s and 1880s.
- Europe got introduced to poker in 1871, after Queen Victoria heard about it from the US minister and asked him to explain the game rules.
Overtime, different variants of poker was added and is the most popular game amongst players.
