Casino gaming has been in existence since the 19th century. People of that era developed casino games as a part of the entertainment. However, a popular belief says that Poker is a casino game that has been played for money since the beginning. It is believed that the casino game of poker is originated from a Persian game As-Nas. A few others say that it is originated from the British game Brag. However, a famous saying says- that a card game from France, Poque is the Godfather of the casino game Poker.
The poker was initially played with a single deck of 20 cards. Five cards were given to each player to play this game. Poque and Poker had similar names. Poque is a card game that was then played with a deck of 52 cards.
The Americans altered the name of the game to fit it into their culture of casino gaming.
The initial phase
18th century marked the early days of attraction of the game in the American states. Mississippi and other coastal/ river side territories of America were the first to accept poker.
The bets on poker are believed to have emerged in the 18th century in America. The gameplay, the rules are also believed to be originated there itself.
The rules of the game were actually written down in 1872. Colonel Jacob Schenk had written the rules and sent it to England.
The expansion
It was the 19th century when the game actually spread across the USA. The Civil war was at its peak. People were deeply engrossed in killing each other. However, due to the Goldrush in California, people were able to see their opponents through the means of this game. Poker was widely available in saloons all across California and Mississippi. With this, the war had cooled down. Everyone got a sense of defeating their opponents without using guns.
The fact that Poker was played for money since its origin helped the game gain more popularity.
The turning point
20th century was the turning point for this game, which is now a popular casino game. Initially, the game was restricted to being played in saloons only. However, with time, Poker became popular. The popularity encouraged people to come up with various versions of the game. Young, adults, women, everyone was actively involved in playing poker. In 1998, the first online version of the game was seen.
Planet poker was the first online portal where people could access the game. Poker going online opened doors to many business opportunities. People earned millions from this game.
The famous Poker-ites
Chris Moneymaker is one famous name in the history of poker. Chris was an accountant in Georgia. He happened to qualify for WSOP main event. He won 86$ satellite on Pokerstars. Going forward, he won a tournament where there were 839 players. He took an unbelievable amount of $2,500,000. Yes, you read it right. That’s the amount he took home as the winner in the first place.
Chris was challenging Sammy Farha. Sammy Farha was an experienced poker player. However, as they say, if the odds are in your favor, you win. And that is what happened with Chris. The odds had favored him that day.
2003
This year specifically had seen major changes in the game of Poker. To begin with, the popularity of Poker was at its peak in this year. The poker players were famous. People started comparing poker players to famous artists, musicians, television artists, etc.
Then came a name Isildur1. His face was unknown. He chose to play online poker only. He was fearless and would challenge anyone who challenged him. Isildur1 was a pro in playing poker. He had defeated some famous experienced players like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patric Antonious etc.
He revealed his identity in 2010. With this, the world saw a young Sewden boy, called Victor, the master of the game they all adored.
The black Friday
15th April of 2011 is marked as a Black Friday in the history of poker. This is because the FBI had seized all the accounts of players and online casinos. There was no means of accessing the game, the funds, etc. It was considered to be an illegal means of earning by the FBI and hence the drastic measures.
All the star poker players were stuck to managing the basics of living.
However, with time, it was declared that this ban/ lockdown on poker was applicable to the USA only. The players outside the USA saw this as a ray of hope. Their accounts were released and they could access their funds.
The world record
In 2013, a world record was set in poker. There was a tournament that was conducted on 16th June 2013. The player count in this tournament was 225000. This was the craze of poker with people. The game has the minimum betting limit of 1$. The winner of the game had invested 1$ and went home with a cash prize of 25000$.
The rise of machines
2015 saw a surge in the solving of limit hold’em heads-up games. The bots existed. However, they were not so much in picture, and were never considered as threats. However, with time, we saw the “Cepheus”. The creators of Cepheus claimed that they had solved the limits of hold’em heads-up games. This was making the most meaningful hands, which no human could make.
It required 200 processors to calculate all the information. This attracted many researchers to dig deep into the poker software and to determine the algorithm of it.
The covid- 2020
The pandemic had hit everyone. Poker was no different. Poker too was hit by the pandemic as all the casinos were forcefully shut down. The world had come to a standstill. However, the spike in online casino gaming cannot be denied. The virtual platforms were flooded with casino game players. And the most played game was poker.
The history of poker gives us an insight about the origin of the game. With this we understand the depth of the game and the advancement that we are playing with right now.
Uniconbet wishes you good luck with your gaming experience.