Considering the popularity of poker, which is by far the world's most popular card game, it is somewhat surprising to learn that its origins are unclear. The history of poker is something which is more speculated upon in its early years as opposed to known as a fact with several countries laying claim to both its creation and naming. Nevertheless, we'll give a rough outline of some of the more credible claims.

The Origins of Poker

Poker, as a game, has no clear ancestry although it is fair to assume it was derived from numerous other games. Card games in general have been around for hundreds of years with one of the earliest records dating to around 900 A.D. and the Chinese game of domino cards. Playing card fragments have also been traced to 12th century Egypt and further theories suggest perhaps the Persian game of "As Nas" or the Indian game "Ganjifa" may have been a strong influence on Western card games.

What is almost certain is that card games in general originated in the East and moved into the West. The first sets of playing card were developed by the Italians and Spanish and depicted solely male figures on the face cards. The decks we use today come courtesy of the French, who in 16th century Rouen, substituted one of the male figures for a queen. This deck was adopted by the English and subsequently the rest of the card playing world.

The first real historical mention of Poker itself however was by one Johnathan H. Green in 1834 who discovered a card game he termed "the cheating game" aboard a paddle steamer on the Mississippi river. This game was played with just the aces, faces and tens between 1 - 4 people who were each dealt five cards. Green found there was no mention of the game in Hoyle and decided to record it himself terming it "Poker".

How Poker actually reached America though is still disputed. Many believe it came from the French who brought it to New Orleans when many Frenchmen populated the area. The French game of "Poque" certainly sounds like a likely inspiration for the name at least. Others claim the name origin may have something to do with the German game "Pochspiel" or even just originated from the Hindi word "Pukka".

One further explaination is a slang term used at the time. The word "poke" was used to refer to pickpockets and it is conceivable that the 'sharks' swimming in the Mississippi may well have refered to the game as "Poke-r" as they fleeced players of the their money.

One thing is for certain. Poker really took off in a big way in America until at one stage not a single saloon bar in the country could be found without at least one poker table in residence. The game has continued to grow, moving out of the saloons and into the casinos and card rooms and is now a multi-billion dollar industry and one of the world's biggest and least exposed sports. Recently big international poker tournaments have started making their way onto mainstream television networks which can only help the game grow bigger and with online poker gaming booming the sky is the limit!