Poker is a vying game using playing cards that involves betting and hand rankings. Different versions exist depending on how many cards are used, limitations of betting, number of rounds of betting and different hand rankings.

The history of poker is the subject of debate. Around 969 AD, the Chinese emperor Mu-Tsung is reported to have played ‘domino cards’ with his wife. Egyptians in the 12th and 13th centuries had a version of playing cards. The Persians in the 16th century had a 96-card game “Ganjifa” and a 25-card version “As Nas”. An early known card game incorporating betting, hand rankings and bluffing was a German game entitled ‘Pochspiel’ popular in the 15th century. The French played a game called ‘Poque’. Both games derived from the German ‘pochen’ (‘to brag as a bluff’, ‘to knock’). Other early versions include the Renaissance game of ‘Primero’, the French game ‘Brelan’ and the English game ‘Brag’.

Modern day poker however differs significant from these early variations. While early card games had pictured playing cards, modern poker focuses more of unique features including betting that are not referenced in earlier games. Modern poker is believed to have originated in the United States of America during the middle of the 1700s. The most probably explanation is introduction of the French game ‘Poque’ by French colonials during this time.

Early versions of the game involved 20 cards (AKQJT) and four players. There was no draw and bets were made on a narrower range of combinations including one pair, two pair, triplets, full and four of a kind. There was no straight, flush or royal flush at this point. In the mid 1830s, the 52-card version was gradually adopted partly to accommodate more player and to give more scope to the recently introduced flush. Poker now reached the pages of American Hoyle. Around 1845, Poker began introducing the ‘draw’. The improved the game by allowing a second round of betting and providing initially poor hands the ability to dramatically improve. From the middle of the 19th century, poker changed rapidly and became more widespread with modern day variations all starting to take form.

The modern day poker boom can be attributed to four events. The first is the 1998 film ‘Rounders’ starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich in which a law student is tangled up in the world of poker and eventually quits his job and heads to Las Vegas to follow his dream. The second is the improvements in modernising televised poker tournaments including the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. The third occurred when an unknown amateur Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003. The fourth and final important advancement is the technology to allow internet poker into mainstream society. Since those events, poker has exploded and has never looked back.

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