The Poker Evangelist

Poker is becoming more and more popular in recent years. The internet has brought this card game into the houses of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Whetheryou consider it a skill game or pure gambling, it's here and from the looks of it, it's here to stay.

When most people think of poker, they think of the Texas Holdem version of the game. It's by far, the most popular version. That said, poker is actually a family of card games, each with its own set of rules. The main differences between the different variations are how different hand combinations are formed, how and in what order cards are dealt to the players, who wins the pot, number of betting rounds, betting limitations, etc.

To make sure players don't just sit there forever and watch the game from the side, most poker variations force some kind of a bet. The game it played clockwise and each player acts in turn. The player must either match the highest bet or fold. Folding means losing all of the money placed so far. At this stage the player is out of the round and waits for the next round to begin.

If all players fold and only one player remains, the remaining player collects the pot (money accumulated in the round). The player may or may not show their hand in accordance with what they believe serves their strategy best. If more than one player remains after the final betting round, all hands are exposed and the best hand wins.

So when did it all begin and where? Like many things that happened long ago, this is a matter for debate. Some argue that the first game to incorporate most of what poker is all about (betting, hand rankings, bluffing) is a 15th century German game called Pochspiel. Poker also resembles a Persian game called As Nas which dates back to 1890. Poker references from the 1930's actually describe As Nas. Poker may also be related to the French game "poque" or the Irishgame  "Poca". In fact, poker is so simple that I could have originated from many different card games or even made up.

What makes poker unique is the betting part. These features do not appear in older games. This may imply that poker originated as early as the mid-18th century. a variety of forms were spread throughout the Mississippi River region by 1800. It was played with 52 cards, and included both straight poker and stud poker.