If the Roulette is considered to be a game of chance, Poker, perhaps the most beloved card game in the world, is a game of skill, an art of manipulating the opponents, a game in which the psyche often beats the cards.
Poker’s origins are lost in time. Supposedly, according to popular belief, Poker’s ancestor would be the Dominoes, a game invented in China during the Sung Dynasty in the years 900, while others consider the forefather as being the Persian game As Nas which used 25 cards with 5 suits, dating back the16th century.
Also, according to German theories, the Poker game is the descendent of Pochen, while the French take credit for the inventing of this game suggesting that Poque preceded the Poker game.
The apparition of poker game
The first official account of a Poker game dates from 1829. Joseph Crowell writes about the first Poker game held in New Orleans, where it seems that the game was exported to by the European immigrants who founded the city. From New Orleans it seems that Poker has spread along the Mississippi River and flourished in the 19th century with the Westward expansion. This is why the Poker history is very often associated with the American Wild-West. Among the American brand personalities which have never hidden their passion for Poker is the writer Mark Twain and former President Harry Truman.
The Evolution of poker.
Since its official appearance, the Poker game has spread worldwide very fast. A series of variants of the game appeared like 5Draw, 7 Stud, Omaha and of course the famous Texas Hold’em.
Where did the passion for ‘No-limit Texas Hold’em’ started? There are some uncertain clues. In an article in LIFE magazine dated 16 August 1968, AD Livingston (a well-known professional Poker player and author of articles regarding this topic) speaks about the game, how to play it, about how popular it is and how quickly it became the favourite game of many. This article has increased even more the interest towards the game, so that many of the 40 million Poker players at that time began to play. In the beginning the game was called “Hold Me Darling”, “Tennessee Hold Me,” or “Texas Hold ’em.”
Since those early days, poker has spread to the online world, allowing people to partake in games without having to leave the house. Starting back in 1998 and still ongoing to this day, online poker has become a popular pastime of many gamers, and as technology has improved, so too have the available games. And with mobile poker also now becoming a phenomenon that many people have taken to, the future continues to look bright for the card game.
Nowadays, Poker is a genuine industry: the annual revenues reach billions of dollars, and in some countries Poker is considered to be a sport.
