Poker History Part 1

Poker History Part 1

Poker seems to have originated from a 16th century Persian card game known as As Nas. This game was played with 25 cards with 5 different suits. The game played in a similar fashion to modern 5 card stud and possessed similar poker hands rankings, such as three-of-a-kind. When Europeans began to play the game, they called it ‘poque’ or ‘pochen.’

However, it was in the United States that poker truly developed. According to English actor Joseph Crowell, poker was first widely played in New Orleans in the early 1800s. He reported that the game was played in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, and four players betting on which player’s hand was the most valuable.

Jonathan H. Green in his book “An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling”, described the spread of the poker game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime.

Poker’s spread was the result of a general spread of gambling during the era. The West was comprised largely of speculators and travellers, both groups that enjoyed gambling. Gambling suited the speculator’s individualistic and risk-taking traits. Soon after this spread, the full 52-card English deck was used and the flush was introduced. The draw was added prior to 1850.

During the American Civil War, new rules and variations were made including stud poker, and the straight.

There were no major changes in poker history until 1949 when a challenger gambler Nicholas “Nick the Greek” Dandolos approached Benny Binion, the owner of Horseshoe with an unusual request. He wanted to challenge the best in a high-stakes poker marathon. Binion agreed to set up a match between Dandolos and the legendary Johnny Moss, with the stipulation that the game would be played in public view.

During the course of the marathon, which lasted five months with breaks only for sleep, the two men played every form of poker imaginable. Moss ultimately won “the biggest game in town” and an estimated $2 million. When the Greek lost his last pot, he arose from his chair, bowed slightly, and uttered the now-famous words, “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.” Dandolos then went upstairs to bed.

Though significant in its own way as a chapter in poker history, the five-month marathon gave birth to the World Series of Poker in 1970.

The 1970 World Series of Poker held in Horseshoe in Las Vegas, was the historical landmark that brought poker to world class popularity it is known today. However, this idea of the Horseshoe’s annual tournament was actually conceived more than two decades earlier in 1949.

Continue Poker History Part 2

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