How Poker Became Popular – A Look At The History of Poker
Poker has evolved over more than ten centuries from a lot of games. The key principals of ranked card, domino combinations and bluffing are somehow used in the game.
The game seems to have originated in China. A game similar to poker was played by the Chinese royals in 969 AD. It is the simplest form of poker discovered yet. So it has its roots dating back to more than a thousand years ago.
The Egyptians also used to play a game similar to poker in the 12th century. The game, called Ganjifa, had 96 cards which were made of slices of wood. Another game with 25 cards was popular among the Persians too.
The Spanish also played a game named Primero where 3 cards were passed to a player. The French and the germans developed their own versions of games similar to poker from the Spanish primero. Bluffing was an integral part of all these games.
Later, the game was spread to Canada when the French arrived there. It soon became popular in whole of Canada. We find references to poker in a book published by Jonathan Green. There is a lot of information about it in the book. This game as carried to other countries where the Europeans traveled.
The popularity of Poker spread like wildfire in the United States. In the nineteenth century, poker tables were available in nearly every town in the country. It got even more popularity during the civil war. The introduction of the joker card took place in 1875.
There has a huge increase in popularity of poker in the last few decades. Many different versions of the game have been developed. Not only is this played in casinos but it is also played online by hundreds of thousands of people every month.
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