History of Poker

The exact origin of poker is unknown but many have speculated that it originated from a 16th century Persian card game called As Nas. Played with a 25 card deck containing five suits, the rules were similar to today's Five Card Stud possessed similar poker hands rankings, such as three-of-a-kind. In all likelihood, the game derived from elements of various gambling diversions that have been around from the beginning of time.

The origin of the word Poker is also well debated. General consensus seems to be that it comes from an eighteenth-century French game, poque, which likely descended from the German game, pochspiel (spiel = game). Pochen is a verb meaning to primarily to hit, strike, or knock on the table, and secondarily '(I) play' or 'bet' or 'raise'.

While origins of poker may lie in Persia and Europe, poker was truly developed in the United States. Poker was first widely played (with a deck of 20 cards [aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens] and four players) in New Orleans in the early 1800's. From there, prior to the American Civil War and during the gold rush, poker spread quickly to towns throughout the Western frontier.

By the mid 1800's poker had evolved into the 52-card game we know today and after that, during American Civil War, many additions were made to the game. These additions included the straight (hand ranking) and new forms of poker, most notable being draw poker and stud poker. Lowball and split-pot poker were developed around 1900 and community card poker games around 1925.