Poker is a vying game using playing cards that involves betting and hand rankings. Different versions exist depending on how many cards are used, limitations of betting, number of rounds of betting and different hand rankings.
The origins of poker are up for debate. The earliest versions of the game are known to exist around 969 AD when a Chinese emperor played 'domino cards'. The Egyptians and Persians had their own version in the 12th-16th centuries involving between 25 and 96 playing cards. The Europeans each hand a version with the most well known include the German game 'Pochspiel', the French 'Poque', the Spanish 'Primero' and the English 'Brag'.
Irrespective of the early origins of poker, the modern day game differs significantly with focus upon unique features such as betting that do not appear in any older version. The modern origin of Poker is believe to have occurred in the mid 1700s spreading through the paddle steamers of the Mississippi River by 1800. Most likely introduced by French colonials arriving in Canada.
The early versions of poker involved a 20-card game with only the cards (AKQJT). The straight, flush and royal flush were not considered hands and bets were made on hand rankings of one pair, two pair, triplets, full and four of a kind. The nut hand at the time was either four aces or four kings with an ace. At the start of the 1800s, the modern 52-card version was introduced to accommodate more players. Later on, the concept of a 'draw' was introduced to allow initially poor hands to dramatically improve. This also allowed an extra round of betting and excitement to be introduced into the game. From this point, all modern variations of the game begin to evolve.
In recent times, poker and particularly internet poker has boomed. This can be attributed to several keys events in the history of poker. The first would involve the modern day popularity of the 1998 film 'Rounders' centring around a student following his dream of playing poker in Las Vegas. The second is the modernisation of televised poker tournaments and the introduction of internet poker to mainstream society. The final event that caused the modern poker explosion was the victory of a relative unknown named Chris Moneymaker at the World Series of Poker in 2003. Subsequently poker has become an integral part of every day society and has changed the world forever.
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