The Origins Of Poker

With online poker leading the charge, the game that was once a trademark of back rooms and bars is now truly a global phenomenon. It seems like everyone is playing poker nowadays and we’re going to take a look at the history of the game and the surprising theories behind its origin!
China, 900AD. There may have been no playing cards, but there were dominos and they have point values that can be used to create “hands” that are played against each other. In the year 969AD, “domino cards” were introduced by Mu Tsing, the emperor at the time.
Egypt also had playing cards going back to the 12th and 13th centuries and while we’re not sure about how the original game was played, there’s a clear line between them and the Ganjifa treasure cards used for the Persian game of As Nas. This game evolved and spread to Europe where the 96 cards were merged with the tarot and reduced down to suits of 13 cards each.
In the 15th century, French players were enjoying a game called “Poque,” a clear progenitor of Poker. Poque included bluffing and betting and it used the deck of cards that we now know: Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs. It was the French that introduced Poque to the New World, bringing it with them to what is now New Orleans and the Canadian wilderness, but one man more than any other was responsible for the game gaining a foothold in America.
Jonathan Green learned the game in a Cincinnati jail cell during a lengthy visit in which he enjoyed the hospitality of Ohio’s law enforcement. His release from jail brought on his newfound gambling career. Green began traveling up and down the Mississippi River, the busiest gambling region in that period. During his travels he came into contact with the fast evolving game of Poque and wrote of a certain style of the game, which was presumed to have been developed by other riverboat cardsharps.
Poque spread with the Civil War and modern versions of the game came to light, and very little has changed in the core game since then. New variations have sprung up, such as Texas Hold Em and Omaha, and the game has traveled to all new mediums, but the core is the same, with the same hands and the same rankings.