History of Poker

The origin of the poker game is a little of a mystery. The French settlers are thought to have developed the game in New Orleans. The French settlers learned an old Persian game “as nas” from Persian sailors, and combined it with the French game “porque” and the German game “pochen”. All these games combined made the first version of Poker.

The game spread quickly in the Old West, and was soon the preferred game in the US. Poker quickly became one of the most popular games on the legendary Mississippi riverboats, where gambling was the favourite pastime. A variety of different poker games was invented during the beginning of the 19th century, and the American Civil War (1861-1865) made the game even more popular. Poker evolved tremendously during the Civil War where the soldiers gambled away their pastime. It is thought that draw poker and stud poker (the five-card variant) was developed by the soldiers fighting in the Civil War. 
 

Poker tournaments
Tournament became popular after 1970 when the World Series of Poker(WSOP) began. The introduction of WSOP is probably the most important event in modern poker history, and WSOP is still the largest poker tournament in the world. Every year thousands of poker players and tourists travel to Las Vegas to test their poker skills. Most of them will go home with less then when they came, but the winner of the WSOP will go home a millionaire.

Poker as a mainstream game
Poker has evolved tremendously over time and in recent years poker has grown to be a multibillion dollar business. Two things have made poker the world’s new favourite pastime:
Firstly the major TV channels have begun to broadcast the major poker tournaments. Poker tournaments make great television - money, stress, psychology, mathematics and rich people. When Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP the entire world knew that he had won his entrance through a $40 online qualifier.
The second thing which has made Poker a mainstream game is the emerge of online Poker. Internet Poker is now available to anyone, anytime and anywhere. The largest online poker rooms have more than 75.000 players online at peak hours and Poker has developed into a game played by everyone.