Poker: From Then to Now

The game of poker is by far the most popular form of card playing worldwide. In fact, there are so many different ways to play poker that it can practically entertain its own category in card playing. Poker style games can be tracked back as far as ten centuries from similar games which contained poker-like rules and the use of bluffing as part of a method for success. The most popular history assumption of poker is that it was originated by Chinese around 950AD which they called "domino cards". This of course was not the same game you see today or any of its variations for the matter. Most all early variations of poker where similar in many ways and then were enhanced and mixed into what many of play today.

The history of card games throughout the world has displayed many early roots of poker. Aside from the Chinese, the Europeans have shown signs of using playing cards as early as the 12th century. Persia has history of using what they called "Treasure Cards" following this time period in the 16th century. The Persians and the Italians were the first to show signs of gambling and ranked card playing within this same time period.

The Italian game called "Primero" was the first card game that was directly related to today's modern game of poker. Primero dated back to the early 1500s and is sometimes called "pokers mother". This game provided each player with 3 to 4 cards, card values, and the ability to bet and bluff to complete each hand. The French game "Porque" and the German game "Pochen" where both created from Primero modifications. Primero was brought to Canada by French-Canadian settlers and was brought down through the Mississippi River to what is now the United States of America. This is around the time in which Primero was given the name and classification as the "Cheating Game". Over time the games have been adjusted again and again which has developed the great game of poker.

More modern day poker first started appearing back in the 1800s where it grew steadily popular during America's civil war. It was widely popular within different branches of the military as well as within saloons. During the "Wild West" period poker could be found in most saloons throughout the USA.

Today there are many variations of poker including the most recent spark which is called Texas Hold'em. This style of poker has broken records as far as commercial and public attention to world tournaments and has also fueled the growth of the biggest card game on earth.