The History of Poker
Poker
Mar 22, 2000, 12:29
By M.Wilson Staff
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Poker, probably the favorite home card game in the U.S., is today a uniquely American game. People associate it mainly with the settling of the Western frontier, but it has been linked to U.S. history since colonial times, when decks of playing cards (like tea) had to be imported from England and were subject to a heavy excise tax. It was, in fact, illegal to manufacture decks of cards in the American colonies.
While the origin of the game of Poker is widely disputed, it seems clear that playing cards were invented by the Chinese around 900 A.D. The Chinese probably invented card games based on games with paper money (which they also invented). Some historians, however, believe that cards are derived from Chinese dominoes, the game pieces simply made into thin cards instead of tiles. Cardplaying spread over the world, arriving in Italy and Spain from Egypt via trade routes by the late 14th century. Many early decks had just 20 cards. The Tarot deck was created based on existing playing card decks, adding 22 trumps to a regular deck. The suits of the Tarot are the same that early Italian and Spanish decks used: Swords, Batons/Clubs, Cups, and Coins. These were called Latin suits. Early English decks were Latin-suited, but they gradually adopted the familiar Spades, Clubs, Hearts, and Diamonds, suits that France began using on their cards about 1480 and we use today.
How did Poker get to America? By the rivers and railroads, mainly. The French who settled New Orleans learned the game of As Nas from Persian sailors going up the Mississippi. As Nas, played by Frenchmen, became associated with their French game of "Poque," a card game involving bluffing and betting. Poker also bears some resemblance to the old 3-card games of Brag in England and Pochen in Germany> (Pochen means "to bluff.")
By the 1830s, a 52-card deck was in general use, and poker rules were slowly becoming standardized as rule books were written. The Old West took to the game quickly. It became the saloon favorite over faro, as sharp players discovered how quickly wealth could be won from it. The personalities of Western legends, guns, saloons and Poker all seemed to go together. Particularly the guns: Poker Alice (born Alice Ivers), a famous gambler and saloonkeeper, shot and killed a man who accused her husband of cheating at cards. Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok, both of whom earned a living at times from cardplaying, frequently had to relocate after disputes over cards that they settled with bullets. For Hickok, poker would be the last game he'd ever play. On Aug. 2, 1876, in the Number 66 Saloon (some say it was No. 6, or No. 10) in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill reluctantly chose a seat he didn't care for, with its back to the door, so he could be in on the card game. While he played, a man named Jack McCall walked in and circled the table. He slowly walked behind Hickok's chair and shot him in the back. Wild Bill's cards -- a 2-pair hand of black Eights and black Aces, plus a 5th card -- became known as the Dead Man's Hand.
Poker, clearly, fit the aggressiveness of the West: a player had to keep his wits about him and exploit opportunity as it arrived. The game -- and the frontier -- was not for anyone without confidence. And it survived its clashes with the law. In 1910, Nevada made it a felony to run a betting game. The Attorney General of California declared that draw poker was based upon skill and therefore the antigambling laws could not stop it. But stud poker, he said, was based on mere chance. Therefore it was illegal. Naturally draw poker games flourished, and more emerged. In 1931, Nevada reversed itself and became the only place in the U.S. to legalize casino gambling, until 1978, when Atlantic City joined in.
Today poker is played in more variations than probably any other game. Its phrases are part of our common speech. We named a facial expression after it. It has its own World Series, when the best players compete in tournaments over14 days. While other games may have higher payback percentages, the irresistibility of poker -- the game so closely tied to the personality and demeanor of the player -- rules.
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