26
2011
History of Poker
With so many discussions and debates on the game of poker and its origin, it would be wise to conclude it simply stating that, it is no doubt a pretty old game which had its origin decades or probably centuries ago. In this edition, we would deal with the history of poker and few realties and facts associated with the same.
One of the original orientations of this game comes from the writings of J. H Green, who had referred this game as the ‘cheating-game’, way back in 1834, when it was played in Mississippi. Poker was considered as a legal game unlike the ‘three card Monte’ of those times and also attracted a fair amount of crowd for the same. It was seen that most of the people would come back to play the game in spite of losing it several times, as they believed it to be a fair game.
The next mystery that remains is the name of the game. None know from where the name ‘poker’ came into existence, neither much references are found from the pages of poker’s history. Few historians believe that as it was named after the word ‘poque’ which was actually a game played in France, whereas others state that it the name had its roots from ‘pochspiel’ (in Germany) and few say that it comes from the Hindi word ‘pukka’
The next theory which is based on the name derivation and roots is that it came from the ancient pickpocket jargon, ‘poke’ which implies money or precious and valuable items.
In United Kingdom, most of the people conjure an image of tough villains who play at the backroom portions when the word ‘poker’ is thought off. Though this is a gambling game for the underworlds, it is played pretty much legitimately in almost all the casinos.
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