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The origin of poker is widely disputed with as many theories about its birthplace floating around as variations on the game. The most popular belief is that it was invented by the Chinese around 900 A.D., possibly derived from the Chinese dominoes. On New Year’s Eve, 969 A.D., the Emperor Mu-tsung is reported to have played “domino cards” with his wife. Another theory is that poker originates from the Persian game “as nas”. Meanwhile, others believe that modern cards originated from an Indian card game called Ganjifa.
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In any case, the idea of card-playing started in the East and made its way West into Europe, reportedly through the Mameluke Empire which ruled in the Middle East during the Middle Ages. Fragments of cards have been tentatively dated to 12th or 13th century Egypt. Since these people were adherents of the Muslim religion this “game of deputies” didn’t depict the human form but instead used ornate patterns (much like you would see on carpets from the region) to differentiate between them. The early European card makers took the idea of royalty and rank and differentiated the cards using people. The first card makers were Italian and Spanish and used men only on their court cards, but then French card makers substituted a queen for one of the male court cards. The contemporary 52-card deck used in the U.S. today was developed in Rouen, France in the 1500s. Originally referred to as the “French Pack”, it was later adopted by the English and subsequently the Americans.
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As far as how Poker came to the United States, one theory states that modern poker began as “poque”, a card game involving bluffing and betting brought over by the French who settled in New Orleans. One of the earliest written references to Poker was made in 1834 by Jonathan H. Green. In his writing, Green mentions rules to what he called the “cheating game,” which was then being played on Mississippi riverboats. He soon realized that his was the first such reference to the game, and since it was not mentioned in the current American Hoyle, he chose to call the game “poker”.
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The game he described was played with 20 cards, using only the aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens. Two to four people could play, and each was dealt five cards. By the time Green wrote about it, poker had become the number one “cheating game” on the Mississippi boats, receiving even more action than Three-Card Monte.
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The history of poker in the United States from then on has a bit more consistency. After travelling by steamboat from New Orleans to the North up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, poker then spread via wagon and train. Modifications such as stud poker, the draw, and the straight became popular during the Civil War. The European influence of poker ended when the joker was introduced as a wild card in 1875.
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In 1910, Nevada made it a felony to run a betting game. However, the Attorney General of California declared that draw poker was based upon skill and therefore the antigambling laws could not stop it. With this decision, draw poker games developed and grew. Click here to see the draw poker games you can play at Play Real Poker Online.
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