Poker History is a Fascinating and Curious Story

Poker history can find its way back over hundreds of years if you choose to look into its ancestors, but as the playing style that is recognized today, it is usually traced back to New Orleans. Of course, this is not in recent times, but back in the start of the 19th century, when the entire area was still a French territory that had just joined the United States in 1803 during the Louisiana Purchase.

The first official mention of poker game history was in a book published in 1936, called Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains, which was written by J. Hildreth.  However, two publications that came not too long afterward suggest that it had been played since at least 1929.

Online poker history records show that it was first played with a deck of 20 cards made up of an ace, king, queen, jack, and 10, which were all dealt out evenly among four players.  Clearly, this favorite pastime has come a long way since those years and that very rudimentary version of the rules.

In fact, it didn’t take long before it had morphed into something that was played with a full 52 card deck, much more similar to the way it is now recognized.  Records show that this likely happened before the end of the 1930s.

Since then, it has become a tremendous success, developing into a central entertainment at parties, in casinos, or just among friends.  Of course, with the advent of the computer, came digital versions, and with the internet came ways to play it at virtual casinos, spreading it to parts of the world where it had never before seen any real kind of popularity.

One of the most beloved elements of its style, which has allowed it to withstand the test of time, is that it is quite a basic style, and yet it has a huge number of variations, subtleties, and nuances that can all be picked up with practice and dedication.

What is known for certain about poker history is that it is a long time from ever being over.