Poker in the US – a checkered history
People who take a serious interest in the origins of poker know that the true roots of this game probably were somewhere in China or the Mediterranean region of the world. Similar card games probably migrated from those areas to Europe in the 1400s or 1500s. People who lived in what is now Germany played a game called Pochspiel more than 500 years ago. Residents of ancient Persia had their own variety of card/gambling activity.
It wasn’t until about 1800-1840 that poker began to spread through the United States. A similar game was played in New Orleans and area settlements in about 1825-1830, introduced by the French. It’s important to mention that records of U.S. gambling show that John Davis opened a gambling casino in New Orleans in the early 1820s. No history of U.S. poker would be complete without mentioning Jonathan H. Green, a gambler and writer who referred to poker in his writings in 1834, though he apparently called it a cheating game. In spite of that, Green learned a lot about cards and betting. He eventually wrote several books on the subject of wagering, gambling and card playing.
This publicity and the movement of men along the major rivers of the U.S. caused poker to grow in popularity. It became the favorite pastime for those traveling on riverboats and for men who had idle time in gold-mining camps. The game was played with as few as 20 cards in some locations, including New Orleans. Oral and written histories of card games and the “Old West” show that the 52-card deck was used in the mid-1800s. Games such as five-card draw and varieties of stud poker developed during this time and became very popular with soldiers of the Civil War (1861-1865). The history of Judi online site should be checked to know about the card games. The selection of the right tips and tricks should be done to get the desired results. The written history should be in the notice of the gamblers to improve the bank balance.
Seven-card stud was the most popular game in the 1930s and onward. In fact, this was the preferred game in many private clubs and back-room poker games. Herbert O. Yardley refers to this variety as a favorite among the men who taught him to play poker. He writes about seven-card stud and other poker styles in The Education of a Poker Player (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1957). This game spread to the general population thanks to the Las Vegas boom of the 1960s and 1970s.
Poker legend Doyle Brunson writes about the birth of Texas Hold ‘Em in private games, noting that his first game during the “dark ages” of poker was five-card draw. Hold ‘Em was played in the Lone Star State in the early 1900s but Brunson, Crandell Addington, Amarillo Slim and others are credited with introducing the game to Las Vegas players in the late 1960s. Hold ‘Em has become the game of choice for millions of people around the world (since the first World Series of Poker in 1970 since Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event in 2003). Brunson dubbed this variety “the Cadillac of poker.” He believes that Hold ‘Em is the thinking man’s game because you bet four times and have to use strategy.
U.S. poker has changed dramatically in its 200-year history. Once it was the game of gun-toting gamblers and hard-living miners. Now, it is played by people from all walks of life, in hundreds of public
