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Home >> About Poker >> History of poker
History of poker
Over the course of less than two centuries, the game of poker has changed dramatically. Once a game mainly played by cheats, outlaws, and knife-makers aboard riverboats, it has evolved into a celebrated "sport" played all over the world.
The cheat and hustler has been replaced by the professional poker player, whose celebrity status is much more akin to a professional athlete or movie star than an infamous outlaw. Poker hands are no longer dealt by professional cheats who manipulate the deck; instead, they are often dealt by online internet poker room software programs connecting poker players from around the globe.
It is difficult to pinpoint the origins of the game of poker. It appears to have originated from a 16th century Persian card game going by the name of 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 had similar poker hands rankings - e.g. as three-of-a-kind. When Europeans began to play the game, they called it 'poque' or 'pochen.' While the game of poker may have evolved in Europe and Persia, it truly flourished in the United States. Poker was first widely played in New Orleans in the early 1800's. Prior to the American Civil War, the game of poker spread quickly from New Orleans to towns throughout the Western frontier. Poker's spread was the result of a general spread of gambling during the era. The West was comprised largely of speculators and travelers, both groups that enjoyed gambling. Gambling suited the speculator's individualistic and risk-taking traits. Unburdened by family needs and the social stigmas of Southern and Northern culture, travelers were allowed to indulge in this vice for their own entertainment.
The people responsible for the game of poker's initial boom were professional gamblers, who tried to expand their craft. The professional gambler considered his occupation very American. They considered themselves entrepreneurial businessmen who took advantage of America's growing obsession of gambling. However, the public did not share the view of the professional gamblers.
Gambling was viewed to consist of two types of people. There was the poker player, who was considered to be a gentlemen who merely enjoyed this form of entertainment in moderation. In contrast, there was the professional, who aimed to simply make money without any regard to moderation or propriety. Professional gamblers were looked down upon and were not considered to contribute anything to overall well being of society. The public viewed their practice as nothing more than one man trying to con another out of his hard-earned money. To be fair it has to be said that the public was partially right a professional gamblers cheated often for the purpose of winning money from their victims.
Professional gamblers were involved in both banking and percentage games, such as roulette and faro, as well as card games. Of all games, faro was a particular favorite for both professional and casual gamblers. Faro is a game where players would bet on which cards would be dealt next. Both banking games, like faro, and card games guaranteed the pro a steady income over the long run. Banking and percentage games had a built-in house edge that guaranteed the professional to be a statistical winner. These types of gamblers are similar to the modern casino, which primarily rely on these types of games for revenue. When professionals dealt card games, such as three card monte or poker, they guaranteed themselves a steady income from cheating.
Poker initially was played with one round of betting. Players were dealt five cards face down and there was no draw of cards. 8 Professional gamblers later modified the rules in order to enhance the profitability of the game for them. After 1850, wild cards and bluffing became common practices in the game. The draw was also added. The addition of the draw helped professionals because it introduced another round of betting (meaning another opportunity to cheat their opponents) as well as introducing more skill to the game.
Poker playing became increasingly popular as American gambling shifted from the frontier towns to the riverboats. While gambling was tolerated on the Southwestern frontier during the early 1800's, it came out of favor by the 1830's. The Western, frontier culture of these towns was steadily replaced by Southern culture, which was more averse to gambling. Western towns passed ordinances against gambling and many towns kicked out known gamblers. Some gamblers were tarred and feathered and there were even instances where vigilante groups lynched gamblers. Since their trade was no longer tolerated on land, professional gamblers took their trade to the many steamboats navigating the Mississippi River. However, carrying heavy equipment like a roulette wheel proved more difficult aboard the steamboats, so card games like the game of poker became an increasingly popular game of choice for gamblers.
The California gold rush introduced a new venue for poker playing. The gold rush resulted in a large influx of men traveling to a new area, seeking to strike it rich. Unsurprisingly, gambling houses sprouted in Northern California, offering an array of gambling and entertainment opportunities for young men. Casinos employed musicians and pretty women (not necessarily prostitutes) to entertain gamblers as they played games such as roulette, faro, and blackjack.
During the early gold rush period, the game of poker was not popular at all in California. This is because gamblers preferred games with more fast paced action. Poker, especially the traditional five card stud or draw, is fairly slow. Gamblers cannot constantly double or lose all of their money in a single bet like they can in roulette. However, the game of poker would eventually become a California pastime. As people became more settled in California and the gold rush ended, their desire for fast action games like faro diminished, and they had a renewed interest in slower games like the game of poker.
Poker's growth during the 1800's was largely the result of the increase in gambling along the American frontier. Nevertheless, it managed to establish itself as a unique gambling game, with characteristics notably different from the other frontier gambling games.
Online poker explosion
The online internet poker and the popularity of online internet poker has increased with more than 2,000% over the last two years! On top of the obvious fact that poker is a fascinating game with great recreational value, some of the main reasons are the flexibility and speed of playing internet poker online - not to mention the fact that everybody from all over the world can access their favorite online internet poker room from their computer 24/7.
As a sport poker has faced increasing media coverage ever since the creation of the tv show World Poker Tour in 2002 and the win of online amateur poker player Chris Moneymaker at the WSOP main event in 2003.
Basically the online and offline poker industries are benefiting greatly from each other. Few people seem to recall the fact that offline poker as a sport was in decline as recently as in year 2000 (!) with an aging crowd and low profile, where most casinos had to shut down the poker rooms.
Online internet poker with real money began in 1998 at Planet Poker and had a moderate growth the first 3 years at a time when Paradise Poker got into a dominant market position. However, it wasn't until aggressive marketers such as Pacific Poker and World Poker Tour televised events in 2002 entered the market that poker saw the upswing that it is facing today: In 2003 alone the online internet poker game volume increased with about 500%. With this expanding market the online internet poker rooms made gross earnings of about $1 billion in 2004.
As you can see the online internet poker room business is extremely profitable for the incumbents on the online internet poker market, but this has resulted in competition soaring. This is good for you as a poker player. Online internet poker rooms today spend more and more money on advertising as well as giving more value back to the poker players with higher and better, re-load bonuses, promotions and other perks.
Also the "real life" poker world has benefited tremendously with online internet poker rooms coming back at the casinos in big style. Today many new poker players start out playing online poker and then move on to play at home poker games and casinos around the world.
So at the end of the day what is it with poker that fascinates the crowd? We belive it is the fact that in the short-term any fairly good poker player - even an amateur - can compete and even beat a poker pro due to the big short-term luck factor and the high level of hidden information. This is different from almost all other skill games in which the best player almost always wins even in the short term. By the same token, poker is also deceptive as many less skilled poker players are not aware of their long-term outlook to win or let alone break-even. As you are surely aware, poker is a game of skill and the best poker players will win money over time.
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